Playing House: A Brittana Fanfic
by godblessthefandom
Summary: "Your OTP are in high school and hate each other but then they get put in pairs for a project where they have to raise a flour baby together and it brings them closer together." Inspired by OTP prompts on Tumblr, and filled with Brittana feels, thanks for reading!
1. Chapter 1

"And then Artie says that there's absolutely no way he's directing a show with Rachel Berry in it because she's a diva, and he's not dealing with her anymore-"

Mercedes slammed her locker shut, and turned more fully to her best friend, Brittany, who was gazing off into the distance.

"Britt, are you listening?"

Brittany shook herself, coming back to her senses. "Yeah, Cedes. My bad. Mrs. Griffin gave us a new corollary to consider, and I've been thinking about it all weekend, but can't come up with anything."

Mercedes laughed. "Leave it to you, Britt, to spend all weekend actually thinking about those nerdy math problems you get."

"Yeah, well, I'm more than co-captain of the cheer squad, you know. I've got a sharp mind to go with this banging body."

Mercedes laughed again, and took a few steps down the hall, waiting for Brittany to follow behind.

"So, you got the part then is what you're saying?" Brittany said, continuing Mercedes story, and walking beside her. "I'm so happy for you, Jones, you deserve it. I'm proud of you too. You worked your ass off all semester, and kept coming in second place to Rachel for what? You're way more talented than she is."

"Thanks, Brittany. I knew you could see it, and a lot of other people could too, but it's about time that Mr. Schue finally did."

Mr. Schuester was their choir director, and probably spent more time coddling "his star" Rachel Berry than doing anything productive. Luckily, Brittany had dropped the glee club the year before when she'd gotten promoted to the captain of the mathletes team. She'd always had a thing for numbers and their coach, Mrs. Griffin, was pretty much the best coach ever. She treated them all equally, gave them respect, and stayed out of their personal matters. Pretty much the opposite of Mr. Schue.

But it seemed that things were turning around in the glee club, especially with Mercedes getting the chance to shine like the star that she is. Brittany hadn't been lying. Mercedes was probably the best singer in all of Ohio, and definitely should have been the lead before now.

They walked down the hall together and reached Mercedes' next class first. Brittany peeked inside and saw a familiar face, Mike Chang, waving at Mercedes. When Mike saw Brittany, he shrunk back into his seat, hoping he hadn't been noticed.

Too late, of course.

"Oh my god, Mercedes, Mike Chang just waved to you."

Mercedes looked over and turned back to Brittany. She gave a nervous laugh. "Weird, I guess."

"Yeah! I can't even believe that. The nerve of that guy." Brittany's voice had taken a hard edge and she grimaced.

"Brittany-"

"I mean, he knows that I'm your friend. He's probably just doing it to bug us."

"He's a nice guy, Brittany."

Brittany laughed derisively. "Whatever. He's best friends with Santana Lopez. No nice people are friends with Santana Lopez."

Mercedes only shrugged, and made to turn into the classroom. "I'll see you later? For lunch?"

"Yeah, I'll see you then. Speaking of Diabla, luckily we get to spend all of health class together next period."

"Try not to get into any trouble, Brittany. The last time you two got into it, you almost got suspended."

Brittany rolled her eyes. "I know, Cedes. I won't let anything happen. We learned our lesson. Now we just stay as far away from each other as humanly possible."

Mercedes nodded, and waved to her friend, and went into the classroom.

A quick look at her watch told Brittany she only had a few moments before she was due in her class, so she raced down the hall, skidding to a stop in front of the door just as the bell rang, and slamming into someone standing there. Hard.

She felt the other body collapse beneath her, and she followed suit, a tangled jumble of arms and legs and one pretty heavy bookbag.

"What the hell?!" Shouted a voice that Brittany was far too familiar with for her own good.

"Oh great." Brittany mumbled, rolling a little away, and standing up.

"Pierce?"

Santana started to stand up as well, but collapsed again with a grunt.

Brittany leaned down. She normally wouldn't spare an emotion as human as empathy towards Santana, but she actually looked like she was in pain. Brittany opened her mouth to ask if she was okay, but had her sentence cut off almost immediately.

"I-"

"Goddammit, Pierce. If this was some thinly veiled attempt at getting me out of the running for captain of the Cheerios, my parents will sue you into the next century."

Brittany rolled her eyes. "You think I ran down the hall and bumped into you _on purpose_? So you couldn't come to cheerleading practice? A sport that I also am included in and would rather not be injured as a result of?"

Santana glared up from her place on the floor. "I wouldn't put it past you. You've been gunning for me-"

"Gunning for you? Santana, someone told Coach Sue that I was in dance, she's the one who asked me to try out. I don't know how many times I have to tell you-"

Their voices were rising now, and the hallway was filled with echoes of their argument.

"Oh, as if the _amazing_ , Brittany Pierce wouldn't be able to coordinate something as simple as a hack job-"

"Santana, before you put filled my locker with salsa, I had nothing but respect for you-"

The classroom door flew open, and their health teacher, Roz Washington emerged, eyes blazing and hands on her hips.

"Ladies!" She bellowed.

Both pairs of eyes landed on her.

"You are causing a scene out here and other classes are trying to learn!"

Both Brittany and Santana had the decency to look sheepishly at the ground before she continued.

"Anyway, I saw the whole thing from the classroom, and it just looked like Brittany didn't look where she was going. In the meantime, I'm sending you all to the nurse's' office so you can get out of my hallway yelling. Brittany, you go with Santana. She's your responsibility now."

They both opened their mouths to protest, but Mrs. Washington shut them down.

"No ifs, ands or buts. Now get your butts to the nurse's office before I tell Coach Sue her Cheerios are disturbing me!"

With that she turned and went back into the classroom, slamming the door behind her.

Santana sat on the ground for a moment, trying to get a grasp on the situation. Her foot was killing her, but the pain wasn't insurmountable. She leaned forward and tried to put some weight on it.

"Shit!" She hissed, before sinking back down.

Brittany sighed, and walked behind Santana, putting her hands under Santana's arms to lift her. Santana shook her off.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Brittany took a step back and crossed her arms. "Well, Lopez, I wasn't planning on spending all day watching you roll around until you figured out how to get off the floor on that leg. Also, Coach Roz told me to help you, so I am."

Santana thought for a moment, then sighed. "Fine. But be careful, this jacket is Armani."

Brittany only rolled her eyes. "Yeah, it always is with you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Santana countered.

"Well." Brittany started, picking Santana up rather easily. "You're always about brand labels or whatever. Louis Vitton this, Versace that, it's like, get over yourself. "

Santana scoffed. "You're just mad because you're wearing whatever your mom could find you from Goodwill."

"And you're just mad because my ass has never looked more amazing in last year's fashions." Brittany countered.

Santana shook her head. She tried not to think about Brittany's ass in anything, but it was a pretty amazing ass. She saw it enough from her spot on the top of the pyramid in cheer practice. She shook her head again.

'Whatever, Pierce. Are you going to help me or not?"

Santana was standing now, but she was nervous about putting weight on her foot. She reached an arm out, and was slightly relieved when Brittany moved over, and wrapped the arm around her shoulders. Relieved, but she tried not to show it.

Brittany grunted when she reached down to pick up Santana's bookbag. "What's in here, rocks?"

"Well, I'd carry it, Pierce, but you've probably disabled me for life."

"Fine." Brittany sighed. She looked back and forth a few times, and then cocked her head to the side. "Just remind me where the nurse's office is again?"

Santana grimaced. "You've gone here for three years, and you don't know where the nurse's office is?"

"Well, yeah, I know where it is. Generally speaking. I'm just not good, with, you know, cardinal directions. I get turned around."

"It's at the end of the hallway and then take a left. Geez, do I have to do everything?"

Brittany didn't respond, just easing Santana down the hallway.

Santana had to admit, Brittany was being a lot more careful with her than she would have been if the tables were turned. She was even careful not to jostle her as they walked. If it was any other person, Santana would have been forever grateful to them, and probably have invited them over for dinner or something.

But this was not any other person. It was Brittany Pierce. The same Brittany Pierce who had come out of nowhere, and tried to take her crown as captain of the Cheerios. The same person who had almost succeeded, convincing their coach that she was good enough to share the top spot with Santana. The same person who everyone said was "so sweet", but she knew the truth. Brittany Pierce was a conniving little back stabber who'd do anything to get ahead. And Santana saw right through her.

They finally made it to the health room after a tedious 10 minutes, during which Santana made sure to only speak when absolutely necessary. They were going so slow that Brittany finally just swept Santana up in her arms, and marched the rest of the way. An annoyed grimace the only indication that she was enjoying herself. But Santana knew better, of course. Brittany was probably reveling in the opportunity to show her up.

Brittany finally placed her down on one of the beds in the nurse's office with a huff, dropping Santana's bookbag down beside her.

"Hey! Careful with that!"

"What?" Scoffed Brittany. "Afraid I'm going to ruin one of your shoplifted Prada bags?"

Santana's eyes went wide. "My Papi bought me that bag last Christmas, and you sat on it _on purpose_."

"It was last St. Patrick's Day, Santana. Get over it!"

Santana gasped. "That bag-!"

"Ladies?" A voice broke into the conversation that was quickly spiraling out of control.

They both turned to look as the nurse snapped on some gloves, and positioned herself near Santana's bed.

"What seems to be the problem?"

"She fell down-"

"She steamrolled me-"

"And now she's hurt her foot-"

"She's probably broken my left metatarsal."

The nurse looked as though she were watching a tennis match as her head swiveled from side to side, and she tried to keep up with the conversation. She simply shook her head and reached for Santana's left foot.

"I'm going to feel around. Let me know if it hurts."

Santana tried not to let her face show her apprehension, but it was clear to even Brittany. If Santana had been anyone else, she would have reached out a hand to comfort her. But this was Santana Lopez. Probably the meanest person at McKinley High, who'd made her best friend ,Mercedes, cry on no less than two different occasions. The same person who'd spiked her cereal one morning in the cafeteria, almost made her fail a 'surprise' drug test and get kicked off the mathletes. And the same person who'd made her life a living hell ever since Coach Sue had found out Brittany was a dancer and put her on the Cheerios. She moved away from the bed and fiddled with a blood pressure machine.

"Ow!" Santana squealed.

"How bad was that? On a scale of one to ten?"

Santana shrugged. "A four, maybe."

The nurse pulled off the gloves, throwing them in a nearby trashcan. "Well, it would seem it's not broken. Just a little bruised. I'd say put some ice on it, but you should be fine in a few hours or so. No need to worry."

"Is that your professional opinion?" Santana snapped.

"Well, I-"

"Because according to _that_ -" She gestured to a diploma hanging on a nearby wall. "You're only a nurse practitioner, and from a second rate college at that. I demand a second opinion."

The nurse made to respond, but Brittany cut her off. "Why do you always have to be so mean, Santana? She's just trying to help. Why don't you try and relax before you go flying off the handle, and give what she suggested a shot?"

"As if I'm going to listen to you."

"Well, how about you listen to this? If you're not medically cleared by the nurse, the Coach is not going to even dream about letting you cheer, and then as your co-captain, I'll be forced to bench you."

Santana seemed to consider this, sitting back with a huff, and crossing her arms. "Fine. Get me an ice pack."

"Please." Brittany added, with a smile.

The nurse raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as she went for her supplies.

"Don't do that." Santana snapped.

"What?"

"Don't put words in my mouth."

Brittany gave Santana a strange look. "My mom always says you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar."

"Well, those of us who didn't marry our first cousins don't worry about things like catching flies."

"It's a saying, Santana."

Santana looked baffled for a moment. "I know it's a saying. I'm just-. You know what? Let's play the quiet game until I can walk again, and walk out of here and away from you."

Brittany rolled her eyes. "Fine by me."

"Fine."

"Fine."

They both retreated to their corners, and that's where the nurse found them when she returned a few moments later, ice pack in tow.

"Good to see you ladies have finally stopped arguing."

Neither responded, and Santana even sat motionless as the cold compress was pressed against her skin. In the next room, the phone started ringing. The nurse leaned back and motioned to Brittany.

"Here, hold this while I get that."

Brittany looked like she wanted to hesitate, but went forward anyway, taking the pack from the nurse, and pressing it against Santana's foot. She was careful and gentle, Santana had to say, and she felt the pressure even less than when the nurse was holding it. They sat for a while in silence. Ever so often Santana would check her phone for messages, chatting with her friends who were still in class. Brittany would check Santana's foot, feeling for when it got too cold, and applying the compress at certain intervals. After a while, Santana began to feel a twinge of what could only be described as guilt.

"You don't have to stay for this. I'm sure you're ready to hit the door. It's whatever." Santana said quietly, not looking up from where her hands played with the phone in her lap.

Brittany sighed. "I know. But, I guess I'm kind of responsible. I should have been watching where I was going."

"You should have." Santana said accusingly, yet no less quietly.

"Yeah, well, I'm sorry, okay? I really hope you don't miss any practice."

"Why would you care if I missed practice? I'd think you'd be dancing in the hallways."

"Because, you're a good cheerleader, Santana. The squad would be worse if you weren't around."

Santana thought for a second, and the looked at Brittany. "What are you playing at, Pierce?"

Brittany shrugged. "Nothing. Whatever. Forget I said anything."

Santana looked like she wanted to ask another question when suddenly the bell rang. Health class was over, and luckily they both had lunch the next period.

"Ugh, I hope we didn't miss too much." Santana said.

"Why would you care about that? Everybody knows you don't care about your classes, Santana."

"Everybody who? Do you even know what my GPA is?"

"Of course not, but that doesn't mean-"

"So how do you know?"

"Everybody knows that you skip class to make out with Quinn in the locker room during fifth period."

Santana scoffed. "As if. Quinn and I are just friends. And you wouldn't know because you're not there, stupid."

Brittany gasped a little and almost dropped the cold compress. But, she seemed to almost immediately gather herself, and her face became a stone mask.

"Whatever, Lopez."

Santana was confused. Usually Brittany gave as good as she got. Why the silent act all of a sudden? She shrugged.

"Whatever, Pierce."

The mood was broken again when their classmate Tina Cohen-Chang entered. She wasn't particularly close to Brittany, but she liked her. She wasn't particularly close to Santana either, but Santana liked to torment her, as she did with almost everyone.

"Ah, Asian Persuasion. Come to grace us with your presence? Have you brought some spiritual herbs from the far east?"

"Shut up, Santana. How many times do I have to tell you that I was born in Ohio, just like you? And for a Latina, you're pretty racist?"

"Whatever. Did you come to give me a boring morality lesson, or just waste everybody's time?"

"Hey Tina." Brittany said, effectively ignoring Santana altogether.

Her smile beamed at Tina, and the other girl had no trouble returning it. "Hey Britt. Stuck here with the raging hellbeast, huh?"

"Would seem so."

"My sympathies."

"Thanks, Tina."

"What the hell?" Santana started.

"Coach Roz wants to see you in her office during lunch. Today we started that flour baby assignment, and she wants to give you the instructions or whatever. Along with your own personalized flour babies. So, yeah. She just told me to make sure you two knew about it."

"Cool. We'll go there after we finish up here."

Tina nodded, and waving to Brittany, she outright ignored Santana, she headed out the door. After a few more moments of uncomfortable silence, the nurse reentered, and felt Santana's foot.

"I think you should be as good as new now. Give it a shot."

Santana got up hesitantly, but leaning on the bed for support, stood up and was hobbling around the room in no time. The pain in her foot was reduced to a dull throbbing, and she figured with a couple of Advil, she'd be ready for practice that afternoon. They said goodbye to the nurse (Santana even threw in a 'thank you' for her helpful advice), and headed back down the hall to the health classroom, where Coach Roz's office was.

In addition to being an A Class teacher, Coach Roz was also the coach of the swimming team, and had the trophies and plaques to prove it. Brittany and Santana inched around the awards and took a seat in front of her desk.

"Ladies. Glad to see you could put your petty squabbling behind you to get something productive done. Lopez, how is your foot?"

"It's fine, Mrs. Washington. Good as new."

"Good, that means that I won't have to say anything to Coach Sue about your little incident today."

"Thank you, Mrs. Washington." Brittany said.

"Not so fast, you two. I have a condition."

Santana raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"Today we started the flour baby assignments. Remember? You take care of a bag of flour for a month to show how difficult it is to take care of a real baby?"

"Yeah, yeah, we remember. Can we just get our babies and get out of here?"

"Nuh uh. Not babies. Baby."

"What?" Brittany asked.

Coach Roz reached under her desk and pulled out a bag of flour with a diaper strapped to the bottom of it, placing it gently on the desk.

"Like I said, baby. Singular. Everybody got paired up, cause it's a partners project. And everyone has a partner except for you two. So, you're raising this little one together."

"There's no way-"  
"No way in hell-"

"Enough you two!" Shouted Coach Roz. "This is the fourth time this semester your shenanigans have disrupted my class. Or have you forgotten about the baking explosion incident from earlier this year?"

Both girls shook their heads.

"You're rivals on the cheerleading field, you're rivals in the classroom, and I can't have this kind of friction in my school. So, you're going to have to learn to work together. I'm sick of it, and so is Coach Sue, so here's the deal. One month, follow the assignment, learn to get along. If you don't, Coach Sue is going to have no choice but the demote you both from Captain of the Cheerios, and promote Quinn Fabray instead."

Santana was up in a second, leaning over the desk, and pointing an accusing finger at Coach Roz. "Are you kidding me?! I won't stand for this! This is railroading plain and simple."

"Fine." Came Brittany's quiet voice, cutting through the room like a knife.

"Excuse me?" Santana said, rounding on Brittany.

"I don't want to be the stupid co-captain of the Cheerios anyway. Coach Sue only gave it to me because I work hard and I'm a good dancer, but I never asked for it. I'd rather be a regular cheerleader again, and not have to spend anymore time with you than is absolutely necessary."

Santana turned back to Roz. "Fine. There you go. She doesn't want to be captain, so I guess I'm the only captain now."

"No deal, sweetheart. It's either both of you, or nothing."

"What!? She already said she doesn't want to be captain, what more do you-"

"This isn't about who's captain, Santana. It's about you two getting along and not tearing this school apart! So, it's all or nothing. Either you both do it, or you're both demoted."

"Fine by me." Brittany said again.

Santana turned to Brittany quickly, catching her arm. "Brittany, please. All right? I've never asked you for anything before, and I never will again, but you can't do this to me, okay? Cheerios is all I have."

There was a desperation in Santana's voice, and Brittany was struck. She'd never known the other girl to show weakness to anybody. Much less her own 'mortal enemy'. She had been telling the truth. She'd much rather be demoted. Being captain of the mathletes and co-captain of the Cheerios had been stressing her out, though having Santana there to split up the duties had helped. But walking away wouldn't hurt her at all. She thought about it a moment longer.

"Brittany, I need this. Along with my grades, this is what's going to get me into Columbia. I can't lose this."

Something in Santana's tone moved Brittany, and she realized she couldn't (or didn't want to) say no. She nodded slowly. "Fine, Santana, but you have to make me a promise."

"What?" Santana asked suspiciously.

"No more picking on my friends. You leave Mercedes alone, and Tina, and everybody else. For the entire month, you have to actually act like a normal human being for once, instead of a raging bitch."

Santana's eyes widened. "How dare you?! I don't-"

"Fine. Then you can go back to being a regular Cheerio, and we'll be looking up at Quinn Fabray at the top of the pyramid."

"Okay, okay. Fine. You win. I'll-" She shook herself. "Be nice to everyone for the entire month. I won't even call Finn fat once."

Brittany gave a small smile. "Oh, well, he's not one of my friends, but that's good."

"So it's a deal?"

They turned back to Roz who was holding the bag of flour out to them, along with a small packet of papers.

"Deal."  
"Deal."

"Well, congratulations Mom and Mom. You are now the proud parents of Little Baby Lopez-Pierce. You can come up with a name, and write it on the front of your packet."

Brittany took the flour from Roz, and Santana grabbed the folder.

"Great." Santana muttered.

"I think she's kind of cute." Said Brittany, tickling the bag of flour under where it's chin would be.

"You have one month. Go out there and be the best parents you can be. And bring her back in one piece!"

Santana only nodded, and marched out the door, being careful of her newly healing foot. Brittany waved to Coach Roz, and scurried after, closing the door behind them.

\

Mike caught them as they were coming down the hallway. He raced up to Santana, barely noticing Brittany, but offering a soft smile in her direction.

"Hey! I went to the cafeteria to look for you, but I couldn't find you. Are you okay?"

He put a hand on Santana's shoulder, and looked her over apprehensively.

Santana waved him off. "I'm fine, Mike. The nurse iced me down and now I'm as good as new. Pierce didn't manage to knock me out of contention that easily."

Brittany looked like she wanted to defend herself, but simply closed her mouth, rolling her eyes. "Remember your promise, Lopez."

Mike frowned. "What promise?"

"Nothing, nothing." Santana said, shaking her head. "Let's just go get me some food. I'm about to pass out."

Mike nodded, grabbing Santana's bag out of Brittany's hand gently.

They made to leave, but Brittany put a hand on Santana's arm. "Can I talk to you for a sec?"

Santana sighed, but waved to Mike. "I'm right behind you."

MIke frowned again, but walked down the hallway a ways, stopping to turn back and eyeing Brittany and Santana suspiciously.

"Look, Santana. If we're going to work on this project together, we're going to have to actually figure something out."

"What, Pierce? We'll alternate weeks with the thing, and just make sure we fill out all the paperwork or whatever. We can pass it off at Cheerios practice, since we see each other every day anyway. No extra work on our parts required."

"I don't think so, Santana. First off, this is a group project, and as much as I want to spend as little time with you as possible, Coach Roz has gone all out. She wants timestamped photos. And we've got to document the whole thing. So that won't work."

Santana sighed. "So what then? I've got to spend the next month playing house with you?"

"Yeah, like I want people knowing that I'm being attached to you for 28 days. Tonight come over to my house, and we'll start figuring things out. After Cheerios practice. I know you drive cause you're always bragging about the Mustang your dad bought you for Christmas. You can drive me home."

Santana pointed an accusing finger. "Look, Pierce, I don't work for you, okay? Just because I made that stupid promise-"

"And stop using that word!"

Santana stopped cold. "What are you blabbering about?"

"You can't just say the first thing that pops into your head, Santana. You have to think about how what you say makes people feel."

Brittany's words were almost a whisper, and she didn't look at her, but Santana could feel the accusation.

"Fine." She relented. "I won't call you stupid anymore, okay? Happy?"

Brittany sighed. "Whatever. Just be ready after practice. Okay?"

"Okay."

Santana didn't move for a moment. She wasn't quite sure what had just happened. It was like Brittany had some kind of weird view into her brain, and knew exactly what buttons to push. She had to more careful. She didn't want her getting away with anything.

She narrowed her eyes as she watched Brittany turn and walk away. Santana turned around and walked towards Mike.

"Santana, what was that about? You haven't said two words to Brittany since the pudding incident at the beginning of the year and now you're all buddy buddy with her? What the actual hell?"

Santana pushed past where Mike had been leaning against a locker.

"I don't want to talk about it, Mike."

"Santana-"

Santana rounded on him, poking a finger into his chest.

"I said lay off, Chang."

Mike put his hands up in mock surrender. "Fine, fine. But you've gotta admit it's weird."

"You know what's weird? I called you three times last night to hang out and you totally ditched me."

Santana skulked off and Mike followed.

"My bad, Santana. My little sister needed some help working on her English project and I told her I'd give her a hand. I would have come out otherwise. How about we go out tonight? My uncle gave me a gift card for bowling and I haven't even cracked it open yet."

Santana didn't stop, taking a quick left and heading to the lunch room. "I can't. I'm working on a project for health class."

"Well, then maybe I can come over and hang out while you do some actual work. I haven't seen Selena in a while."

"I'm hoping my sister will get over her stupid crush on you sooner rather than later. And that won't work either. Maybe another night."

Mike was thoughtful for a moment. "So, you're mad at me for blowing you off, but now you don't want to hang out?"

"Plans change, Chang. Why don't you worry more about getting a girlfriend and less about why I won't hang out with you?"

Mike laughed. "I can say the same thing to do, Santana. You spend a lot of time hanging out with a dude for a person who's supposed to be in chicks."

Santana shoved him gently. "I am into chicks. And even if I wasn't, I could do a lot better than you."

"You wish."

They finally reached the lunch room and caught sight of their friend Puck, sitting at a nearby table, laughing. Santana started to smile, but then she saw who was sitting next to Puck. And then scowled when she saw who was sitting next to that person.

"Rachel Berry? Are you shitting me? The last thing I need after getting rammed by Pierce is to have to suffer the psychological trauma of a lunch with Berry. There's no way I'm spending another lunch period listening to her sing show tunes."

Mike looked like he wanted to argue, but after a particularly loud guffaw lead them off in the other direction.

Lunch went on, and then class, and before Santana knew it, she was running around the track field, with the other Cheerios, finally breaking a sweat after her seventh lap. The pain in her foot was still there, and she wasn't making her best time, but she was still ahead of everyone else, which is the way she liked it. She had one lap to go, and the finish line was almost in sight.

Suddenly, heavy footfalls behind her signified that someone was gaining. She didn't bother turning around when a soft voice purred at her side.

"Heard you got into it with Pierce today, Santana. _Again_."

Santana didn't look, but kept her focus on the ground in front of her. "So, what, Quinn? Anyway, the girl is a menace. It's only a matter of time before you all see her for what she is."

"Are you kidding? Everybody loves her. If this were a popularity contest, she'd win by a mile."

"I don't care about love, Quinn. I care about fear. And loyalty. And I have both in spades. I'd win that popularity contest because half of these girls are too dumb to know how they feel about me, and the other half are afraid I'd break their kneecaps if I found out they didn't vote for me. Love fades. Fear is forever."

"I don't know if I've heard that saying before." There was a laugh in Quinn's voice.

"I think I read it in _the Art of War_."

"So, you're a military strategist now?"

"Don't worry. I've got a plan to take care of her."

"And what's that?"

Santana paused. She wasn't sure how much to tell Quinn. To be honest, the two of them had a weird relationship. If you asked either one, they would tell you that they loved each other. But, their actions told a different story. They talked about each other behind closed doors, often spoiled each other's opportunities, and once or twice have even tried to slap each other silly. But ever since the year before, when Quinn had had that pregnancy scare, and afterwards, their power dynamic being upset by Brittany joining the squad; they'd agreed on an armistice, of sorts. Of course, that didn't mean that Santana trusted her.

"It's still coming along. But I think it should work."

"If Coach finds out you're planning something that's going to ruin our chances at Nationals-"

"I wouldn't do that."

"Well, that 'take care of her' sounded really ominous."

At that moment, their coach, Sue Sylvester, started shouting at them through her bullhorn. She was perched on top of a cherry picker that was parked at the end zone of the field.

"Let's go, ladies! I don't have all day. This worthless Cheerio who finished her laps last yesterday, and therefore now has to hold my parasol, is about to pass out from heat exhaustion. Honestly, I don't think she can take the next hundred years it's going to take for you to finish! Get moving!"

Santana squinted across the field, and see one of the junior varsity Cheerios, holding up a parasol with quaking arms, and looking rather red in the face.

She was tired, and not feeling her best, but she drew what gas she had left in the tank, taking off, and leaving Quinn behind. She pushed herself, feeling a little delirious as the sun beat down on her. The waves of summer were fading away, but she could still feel the heat of the sun radiating up from the track. She focused on putting one foot in front of the other, and though she could hear Sue still yelling through the bullhorn, she tuned her out, and kept racing forwards.

The finish line was in sight, only a few yards away, and she really leaned into it now, letting her momentum push her forward.

She heard footfalls behind her again, wondering how Quinn could have caught up to her so fast. Suddenly, the steps were coming faster, and right behind her. Santana was only a few feet from the finish line when a body whizzed by, accompanied by long blonde braids. The shape broke across the finish line, and Santana followed, a few seconds later.

Sue's voice beside Santana made her jump.

"Good job, Brittany. That was some moving. You could learn a thing or two from your co-captain there, Santana. That's the kind of attitude that gets a person six National cheerleading championships in a row!"

Sue patted Brittany on the back. Brittany, who's hands were on her hips, as she tried to catch her breath, could only offer up a soft smile in return.

Santana scowled. She knew better than to say anything in front of Coach Sue, but she was fuming. Brittany had deliberately done that to screw with her, and after their little truce in the health classroom. As usual, Brittany's word had meant nothing.

Instead of laying into her co-captain, Santana turned to the last Cheerio coming across the finish line.

"What was that?!" She yelled, turning on the girl.

"W-w-w-"

"W-w-w-why are you running so slow?" Santana returned, mockingly.

The rudiness was even evident on the other girl's dark complexion, and she could barely catch her breath.

"How about instead of talking to me, you do another lap? See if you can talk better after that."

The girl looked to Sue for help, but Sue just shrugged, nodding to the track. "Your captain says run, you run. Get to it, girl."

She looked like she wanted to cry, but the girl took off anyway, jogging slowly, with her head down.

"Wait!"

Both Sue and Santana looked at Brittany, who was still wheezing a bit herself.

"I'll go with her."

"Brittany-" Sue started.

"Because it's the right thing to do. Isn't that right, Santana?"

Santana had some idea of what Brittany was getting at. Okay, maybe she'd been bullying the girl a little, but it wasn't anything less than she'd gotten when she'd first started with the Cheerios. If you didn't push the JV hard, they'd never make it to the varsity squad.

Santana shrugged. "Whatever."

Brittany took at that as a good sign, and began jogging after the girl. After a few steps she turned around.

"Actually, we'll both go. Right, Santana?"

Santana's eyes grew wide and she opened her mouth to respond. Brittany cocked her head threateningly, and Santana closed it, shooting daggers at Brittany with her eyes.

"Fine." She said, shortly.

Sue's mouth was hanging open now in disbelief as she watched Santana and Brittany take off, leading the way past the girl, who was actually grinning. The rest of the Cheerios began to chatter loudly.

"Shut up, you all, and hit the showers. You're not out here to gawk. You're out here to be national champions. Do you want to win or not?" Sue shouted.

"Yes, Coach Sue!"

"Then act like it! Get out of here."

The group dispersed, but Sue watched for a moment longer. Maybe this plan would work after all. If she could get the two warring captains to stop fighting, her squad would be better than ever. She gave a small smile as she turned towards the locker rooms.

"Looks like you're going to be holding the parasol for at least another day, kid." She said, to the Cheerio still struggling to hold the blasted thing above Sue's head.

The girl only groaned in response.


	2. Chapter 2

Further up the track, Brittany and Santana jogged along in almost silence. Brittany was softly humming a tune that Santana could almost recognize, but she wasn't about to ask her which song it was. The wheels in her head were turning too loudly for her to concentrate on anything else anyway. Just when she felt like she had Brittany figured out, she'd do something like this. Why would Brittany waste time on this JV girl, and why force Santana to come along? It wasn't as simple as embarrassing her. Brittany had already done that when she beat Santana around the track. So, what was her game?

Figuring she'd go with the direct approach, Santana turned slightly towards Brittany, while still matching her pace.

"Why am I here?"

Brittany stopped humming, and seemed to think for a second before answering.

"Is this one of those existential things? Because I'm not much of a philosopher. I guess it could be a sex ed question, but I'm not really good at those either. Um, so, when a man and a woman love each other very much-"

"Cut the crap, Pierce. You know what I mean. Why have you got me jogging behind this dumpy freshman?"

Brittany rolled her eyes, tsking Santana.

"You promised you would be nice." She hissed.

"To your friends, not to randos who you take in like stray kittens." Santana whispered back.

"Whatever, Santana. You promised. Apologize."

"Britt-"

"I guess we'll have to start getting used to Captain Quinn Fabray." Brittany said, pulling up a little to join the Cheerio running in front of them.

"No, no, fine, okay." Santana reached out, grasping Brittany's arm. She pulled Brittany back beside her, and sighed. "Sorry, um, what's your name again?"

It took the Cheerio a second to realize that Santana was speaking to her, and only after hesitating did she reply in a soft voice. "Jane."

Santana's eyes grew wide, and Brittany could tell she was going to probably go off on some rant about how that was the stupidest name for a cheerleader she'd ever heard, but Brittany pulled on Santana's hand, which was still wrapped around her arm, pulling Santana closer.

"Well, Santana is sorry, Jane." She tugged on Santana gently. "Right?"

"Um, yeah, right."

Santana was having a bit of a hard time concentrating, considering that her hand was now squished right between Brittany's bicep and her breast. The warmth of her skin, even through the skin tight Cheerios uniform, making Santana swallow, hard. So what, she was human? Of course she'd feel something _interesting_ when she touched a person like Brittany. Brittany, who was a young cheerleader with a smoking hot body, and legs that just wouldn't quit and and ass like-

Santana shook herself, pulling her hand away from Brittany. Brittany noticed the motion, and could feel herself blushing. She hadn't meant to squash Santana's hand into her boob, but it'd happened and now Santana was making it all weird. Or maybe Brittany was feeling weird about it. She copied Santana's shake of her head, and turned around, jogging backwards in front of Jane so they could maintain eye contact.

"Jane, why do you want to be a Cheerio?"

The girl had been looking down at the ground, barely keeping her breath as they moved, but she looked up when Brittany spoke.

"Huh?"

"Why do you want to be a Cheerio? What do you think it'll mean to you?"

Jane looked to Santana, hesitantly, but got no reaction, so she turned back to Brittany. After thinking for a second she shrugged.

"My friends told me it's the easiest way to get popular."

"Well, what do you think?"

Jane hesitated again. "I dunno. I guess I want to be popular. But if Coach Sue keeps yelling at us all season, I've gotta wonder if it's worth it."

"That's stu-" Santana caught herself. "I mean, that's silly."

She pulled up beside Jane, and narrowly avoided Brittany's gaze before continuing.

"Everybody's got different reasons for joining the Cheerios, but you need to make sure they're yours. If you do it for anybody but yourself, you'll never make it. Sue will break you before the season even gets started."

Jane only nodded, looking a bit ashamed. She glanced at Brittany. "Why did you join up?"

Brittany glanced at Santana, before looking back at Jane. "I love to dance. I've done it since I was a kid, actually. My mom said that even before I could crawl, I'd be scooting myself along on my butt to the beat. She put me in dance class when I kept jumping off the furniture, and gymnastics after that. She said it was the only way she'd be sure I wouldn't break all my limbs." Brittany laughed. "And then I got into tumbling, and was practicing at this gym out in Westerville. Sue saw me and demanded I try out. I wouldn't have, but my mom was right there, and she kept going on about how she used to be a cheerleader in high school."

Brittany looked directly at Santana. "But, Santana is right. If I had done it for my mom I would have dropped in in the first week. Probably around the first time Sue pelted us with snowballs she saved in her walk in freezer while we did jumping jacks. But, I actually saw the Cheerios in action in my first week, and I saw how amazing they looked, and how awesome the routines were, and I dunno… I saw myself among them. I knew that's what I wanted. And it is worth it in the end, if it's what you want. The only time I have more fun is when I'm doing some vector differentials on the math team."

She pulled to a stop near where they had started, surprising both of the other girls who'd barely noticed the lap fly by.

"The crowds and the admiration fade, but at the end of the day, all you have left is how being a Cheerio made you feel." Brittany shrugged. "I guess that's how you'll know if it's worth it."

Brittany pulled a frown and pointed at Santana and then Jane. "Now hit the showers ladies, before I give you another hundred!"

It was an almost uncanny Sue impression, and so unexpected that before she knew it, Santana cracked a smile, and was actually laughing. Actual doubled over, belly laughs.

Jane gave a smile, and began to walk back over towards the locker rooms, but it was a moment before Santana's legs were steady enough to follow. Brittany hung back, arms crossed, enjoying her handiwork.

"You-you-you sounded just like her!" Santana wheezed, holding her sides tightly. "I thought Quinn had the best Sue impression, but you've got her beat by a mile. Why is this the first time I'm hearing this?"

Brittany's face fell a bit. "Well, probably because we only ever see each other at practice, where Sue is breathing down our necks. And the one Cheerios sleepover that I went to you drew a mustache on my face with a permanent marker, and then tried to drag me out of my sleeping bag at three AM."

This sobered Santana quickly, and she stood up straight, dropping her arms. The two walked quietly as they reached the locker room, and as Brittany turned to head towards her locker (strategically placed at the exact opposite of Santana's), Santana turned quickly to her.

"Look, Brittany-"

"You don't have to say it, Santana. I get it. We're not friends. You're only actually spending any time with me because I'm holding your Cheerio dreams hostage. I know that much. You don't have to like me. Heck, I don't much like you. But I don't hate you, Santana. Even as much as you hate me, I don't hate you. When this is all said and done, do what you want. But I hope that you can not hate me."

Brittany turned and walked towards her locker, moving fast so that Santana wouldn't see the tears forming in her eyes. She'd probably seen Santana really smile once since she met her. Even though they were mortal enemies, Brittany had noticed her smiles. Almost all of the ones that she saw were faker than fake. They were the ones that she reserved for teachers she was kissing up to, or girls she was flirting with, and sometimes when she was about to make a particularly biting insult (those were the ones that Brittany saw the most). But once, just once, Brittany has stumbled across Santana and Mike near the gym after the bell had rung. He was talking about his little sister, and Santana had been smiling so brightly that Brittany had almost had to catch her breath. Santana was gorgeous, that wasn't a question, but the softness that came to her face when she really smiled, the little dimple that marked itself in her left cheek, the way she smiled with all her teeth in a way that made Brittany feel all tingly to her toes. Those were her real smiles. And just then, standing on the sunny football field, was the first time Brittany had ever had it pointed at her.

Brittany sat on the bench near her locker, and opened it, pulling out her duffel and rustling through the clothes. She found her street clothes, and deciding that skipping the shower might be a better idea, changed and went outside to wait on Santana.

She had been standing there for only a few minutes when she heard footsteps behind her, and turned to find Sue walking by, keys jangling in her hand as she made her way to finish locking up the school.

"Pierce! What are you still doing here? Hanging out with that freshman? Between you and me, she's never going to make it to varsity squad."

"'Between you and me', Coach? You screamed that she'd, and I quote, 'make it to the inside of a box of Wheaties before she ever made it on the cover' eight times during our second to last lap."

"Well, Pierce, I believe that if you don't let people know they suck, they're going to go through life thinking they don't suck, when we all know they do. And who does that help?"

Brittany didn't bother arguing. She'd learned the hard way that Sue was not a person you wanted to argue an optimist's viewpoint to. So, she just shrugged and moved her bag to a more comfortable position.

Sue brushed past her with a grunt, stopping before she turned a corner. "Good luck with that health project, Pierce."

Before she could disappear, Brittany jogged after her. "Let her be captain."

Sue stopped in her tracks, turning to face Brittany. "What are you on about, Pierce?"

"I don't even really want to be captain, Coach. I mean, I like helping the other girls, and getting to be at the top of the pyramid, and I don't think you've got anybody who can do an ariel like I can, but Santana wants this. She wants to be captain. It matters to her."

Sue scoffed. "Oh please. You're a born leader, Pierce. The way you ran with that girl today proves it. It's a bit more touchy feely than I like, but you two work well together. She's the fire, you're the ice. She's the blade, you're the salve. Together, you actually form a competent person. And as much as you disagree, I know that you want to be captain of the Cheerios. You'd have to be crazy not to. Do the assignment for Roz, learn to work together, and let's get back to being national champions."

With that she turned and marched down the hallway. Brittany sighed, and leaned hard against a locker, watching her go.

From her vantage point, Santana remained hidden from both of them, but a deep frown creased her face. Brittany Pierce was a mystery wrapped in an enigma. Why would Brittany tell Sue to make Santana the head cheerleader? It didn't make any sense. Maybe it was a long game. Brittany must have known that Sue wouldn't give up on her stupid plan. So, she offers to drop out to make herself look better. Or maybe she knew that Santana might be listening, and doing it would cause her to have all these weird feelings and conflicting emotions and…

Santana squeezed her eyes shut, rubbing them with the heels of her hands. She was spirling and if she did that, then Brittany would win after all. She couldn't help the small niggling in the back of her head that maybe there was something authentic about Brittany after all.

She shifted her backpack on her shoulder, but knocked her Cheerio duffle to the ground.

"Santana?" Brittany called.

"Yeah, I'm coming." Santana took a deep breath and walked into the hallway, not stopping where Brittany stood leaning up against the locker, but barrelling through, and heading towards the door.

"Hey, wait up!"

Brittany was beside her a few moments later, and easily keeping up with long strides. They walked in silence out the door, and into the parking lot, coming up on Santana's pristine convertible a couple minutes later. Santana clicked the unlock button on her key fob, but stopped from opening the door, looking at Brittany standing on the passenger side.

"I don't hate you."

Brittany raised an eyebrow but didn't respond.

Santana continued, playing with the key ring in her hand. "I don't trust you. And I have no idea what you're up to. But, I don't hate you."

Brittany gave a small nod before opening the car door. "That's progress then, I guess." She slid into the car, with a grin.

"Whatever." Santana said, rolling her eyes. She got behind the well, and started the car, when suddenly she heard the tell tale whir of the roof of her car coming down. She looked over to Brittany staring at her guiltily, her finger still on the button that controlled the roof function.

"I've never been in a convertible before."

Santana rolled her eyes again, and shifted the car into gear, pulling out the parking lot. "Hasn't anyone ever told you it's rude to get into someone's car and start pressing buttons? Especially if you don't know what they do."

"Well-" Brittany drawled. "I knew exactly what that button did. That's why I pushed it. But, I'll keep that in mind in the future. Let's listen to some music."

She reached for the iPod cord connected to the stereo, plugging her phone in and selecting a song. They drove down the street as Beyonce's "Who Run the World?" started blasting from Santana's speakers. Brittany gave directions, pointing them towards a suburb that Santana had never been to before. Santana watched out the corner of her eye as Brittany wiggled in her seat, as if she were barely able to sit still. She bobbed her head to the beat, moved her shoulders side to side, and tapped her fingers on the dashboard. She even waved her hands wildly out the roof of the car, cheering once when they were next to a school bus at a red light. Much to the amusement of the kids inside. As she settled back into the seat, she looked over to Santana who'd turned to look at her.

"What are you smiling at?" Brittany asked, her face still bright from her enthusiastic conversation with the school kids.

Santana started. She hadn't even realized she had been smiling.

"Um, nothing. I just- I dunno. I'm just glad to be done with practice for the day, I guess." As the light turned green, Santana pulled off, catching herself with another grin as Brittany waved goodbye to the bus. "Are you always so, hmmm, enthusiastic?"

Brittany picked up the phone on the console, scrolling through the songs, and her smile slipped a bit. "I dunno are you going to make fun of me about it?"

"No!" Santana said quickly.

Brittany gave her a strange look, so she started again. "No, I mean. I normally would, let's be real. But you seem to really just like people, and I can't be mad at you for that."

Brittany's smile brightened again, and Santana felt her own returning.

"Good. Cause I am. Actually, one of the reasons my parents have supported my dancing so much is because otherwise they say I come home bouncing off the walls. At least Sue wears us out."

"That's true. I'm still sore from all that running. I really regret not taking a shower after practice. Even though they gangy, the locker room showers have the best water pressure."

"You can always shower at my place. The water pressure is not as good, but we have these really cool soaps that are shaped like penguins."

"Oh, I won't be staying long, trust me. We're just going to figure out this project thing, and then I'm going home."

It came out a bit more harshly than she intended, and Santana avoided turning to look at Brittany, though she desperately wanted to.

Brittany had to admit she was a little disappointed. She wasn't friends with Santana, not by a long shot, but she was seeing a side of her she never saw before, and she kind of liked it. She didn't want to start spending every day with her, but once in a while might be nice. If Santana could keep her inner grinch in check. That was something Brittany wasn't so sure about.

They pulled up to Brittany's house, and Santana could see the lights were all on. It was about six o'clock, and over at Santana's house around this time, there be barely any signs of life. Plus, even though her father made gobs of money as a surgeon, and loved buying gifts for her, he had a weird thing about leaving the lights on, and would shut them off all over the house. Santana eyed Brittany's house carefully. While the Lopez home was pretty much one of those brick McMansions people are always talking about (8 bedrooms, five baths, a media room, and all the rest), the Pierce home was much more modest. It was two floors, and had a front yard littered with toys.

"How many kids are in there?" Santana asked, gazing up at the chaos that seemed to exude from the house.

"Well, there's me, and three brothers, and two sisters. So, six in all. I'm the oldest."

"Holy shit, that's almost a basketball team."

Brittany laughed. "That doesn't count our two dogs and three cats. Plus a ferret and a pair of rabbits. Oh! And one turtle."

Santana's eyes glazed over as she thought about the quiet house she'd return to that was just her and her younger sister. If she had to face this kind of pandemonium every day, she'd probably wake up even crankier than she already was.

"Oh my god. That's insane. We had, like, one goldfish last year, and my little sister killed it in a week. My mom has said we'd get a dog over her dead body because she wouldn't be the one picking fur off of all the couches. How do you get the hair off?"

Brittany thought for a moment as she lead them up the path to the front door, and not bothering to check if it were locked or not, went right in.

"I guess we don't? I mean, it's kind of a thing that you've got to deal with if you've got pets. The cats shed way more than the dogs anyway. It helps that none of us are allergic."

Santana wrinkled her nose at that, but had to admire the confined anarchy of the house. As she followed Brittany, she saw a little boy, naked from the waist down, jumping on the couch while a large dog wagged happily beside him. She squinted trying to get a closer look at the child's dark hair and wide eyes, but she was pulled neatly along by Brittany past the living room entrance, narrowly missing a streak that ran by. This one seemed more clothed, but it was also covered in what seemed to be a film of chocolate. She hoped.

Santana held her breath as Brittany reached out and grabbed the kid, picking her up, and blowing raspberries into her stomach.

"I've got you, Mel!"

Mel (presumably) laughed and wiggled in Brittany's arms.

"Britt!" She squealed, laughing.

Brittany put the little girl on the floor, and patted her head. "Go tell Ethan to go put some pants on. We have guests."

The little girl was probably no more than five or six, and noticing Santana suddenly became shy, hiding behind Brittany. Santana, herself, was at a bit of a loss. It was clear that the girl was familiar to Brittany, close even, but the child looked more like Tina than Brittany, and things were suddenly confusing.

"Santana." Brittany started, rubbing Mel's back gently. "This is my baby sister, Melody. Melody, this is Santana Lopez. Say hi."

Mel mumbled something into the back of Brittany's hip that could conceivably been a greeting, though Santana wasn't sure. But she liked kids, so she thought she'd put in at least a bit of effort.

Crouching down, Santana stuck out her hand to the little girl. "Hi, Mel. I'm Santana. I'm friends with your sister Brittany. Nice to meet you."

Melody seemed to perk up at that and peeked her head out from behind Brittany, and gently taking Santana's hand.

"Hi." She said shyly. "You're really pretty."

Santana laughed. "Thanks, you are too."

WIth that Melody raced off to the living room, presumably to find some pants for her brother.

Brittany was a bit shocked. She wasn't sure what she'd expected when she brought Santana over. She figured that Santana probably wouldn't have spent the whole time screaming at her siblings, but the care that she'd taken with Mel left a lump in Brittany's throat. All this time there had been a gentleness in Santana, a kindness, but it just wasn't for Brittany to see. She felt suddenly cold.

"Come on." Brittany said quietly, leading Santana further into the house.

Santana stood, following behind, a little confused by Brittany's short tone, but shaking it off. They ended up in the kitchen where a tall, blonde woman who looked like Brittany and a shorter Asian guy sat at the kitchen table. That explained a lot. Brittany stood by the man and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Hey Dad, Mom. This is Santana, you remember her, right? We're both on the Cheerios. We're working on a project together for health class."

Mrs. Pierce put down the paper she was reading, and looked a bit taken aback. "Santana? Santana Lopez? Brittany, what is she doing here? I thought we had a restraining order against her!"

Mr. Pierce stood up, and circled around Santana, as if she were a dangerous animal, eyeing her carefully.

"I remember you. You're the one who made my little girl smell like Tabasco for a week."

Santana blinked a few times, and scowled. "That's only because she and her minions covered my car in Post-It notes during last year's prom, and it took me a week before I stopped finding them in my parking space every morning."

"And that was only because you told her that Finn Hudson had invited her to prom, and she spent a week trying to figure out how to let him down gently, and then you revealed the truth in front of everyone in the cafeteria!" Brittany's mom spoke up again, standing up beside her husband.

Santana raised her voice now, looking more furious than ever. "Well, that's only because she told Puck that I was looking to take him and Quinn Fabray to the prom, and that afterwards we could, and I quote. 'reenact some of his wildest fantasies.'"

Mr. and Mrs. Pierce turned to look at Brittany, their eyes impossibly wider.

"It was a joke!" Brittany said, shrugging. "Anyway, all of that doesn't matter, because we're working together now, and I just wanted you to know that we're going to be upstairs. Please don't let the kids bother us."

Mrs. Pierce nodded slowly, and Mr. Pierce patted his daughter's arm. "Fine, sweetie. Just yell if she starts attacking you or anything."

"Sure, dad." Brittany sighed.

She left the room, but Santana lingered for a few moments turning back to Brittany's parents.

"You, um, you have a lovely home. Thank you for having me."

With that, she scampered out of the kitchen, and up the back stairs behind Brittany, watching her slip into a bedroom. Santana entered behind her, and when she felt the door close behind her, she jumped in surprise.

"Sorry about that." Brittany said, dropping her bookbag beside Santana. She flipped on the lights and proceeded to take her shoes off. "My parents can be a bit protective."

"It's whatever. It's not like they were lying." Santana stood right in front of the door, bookbag clutched tightly in her hands. "Can we just get on with it, so I can go home?"

"Sure. Lemme just grab my stuff."

Brittany plopped down on the bed, and pulled her bookbag beside her, rifling through the contents. Santana finally had a chance to look around Brittany's room. It was not exactly what she expected, but she wasn't entirely surprised. The bedroom, though a little cramped was neat, and covered almost floor to ceiling in pink and unicorns. There were posters of horses, one of Britney Spears, and one with the Spice Girls. Everything was just covered in hearts, stars and horseshoes, and, well, it was something else. She felt like she'd been stuffed into a box of Lucky Charms.

"It looks like a stripper fairy decorated this room." Santana murmured, running a finger along the lamp on Brittany's desk. "Everything is covered in glitter."

"Well, not everything. That was from a project I did a few weeks ago for history class. I got an A though, so it was totally worth it. Anyway, thanks! I decorated myself."

Brittany pulled out the diapered bag of flour, and the notebook that Roz had given them, and laid it out on the bed. She looked up at Santana in surprise.

"Why are you just standing there like that?"

"What?" Santana said, fiddling with the straps on her bag.

Brittany patted the bed. "Come and sit down, you're stressing me out."

"Fine." Santana stomped over, like it was some great inconvenience, but honestly she was just glad that Brittany had said something. She had been feeling pretty uncomfortable, and she hadn't known what to do with her hands. "So, what do we have to do?"

Brittany flipped around, so her feet were pointing towards the head of the bed, laid on her stomach, and opened up the notebook in front of her and flipped through a few pages.

"Well, it looks like we have to make sure that one of us is carrying the baby at all times. Feed her, change her, and at least three times a week have family building exercises like taking her to the park, or the beach."

"Where the hell are we supposed to find a beach in Ohio?"

"I dunno, that's just what it says."

"So, we're supposed to buy actual diapers for this thing?"

"Nope, says here that we're supposed to send a time stamped picture every time we're supposed to do a change. And missing one can mean we lose points on the final project. It says here that 'on average most six month olds go through about 8 diapers a day', so whoever has her should send the text."

"Are you kidding me? We have to text 8 times a day for a fake baby?"

"Well, it's supposed to simulate being a real parent. And when Ethan was a baby, he probably went through twice that number every day."

"How do you know that? You were changing him?"

"Not all the time, but I helped out my mom with all the kids. Didn't you with your little sister?"

Santana frowned. "How did you know I have a little sister?"

Brittany ducked her head, avoiding Santana's gaze. "I, um, I guess I saw your family at games and stuff. Booster sales, car washes. Believe it or not we actually spend a lot of time together, Santana."

"And yet, I've never met your family."

"You've met my parents before. They came to the parent teacher conference after the Chipotle Incident. They spent most of the night glaring at you."

Santana blinked a few times. "Well, I try not to give the time of day to people who are giving me death stares. Just a thing for me."

"They couldn't help it that you'd locked me in that restaurant all night."

"And I couldn't help that you had plastered my face all over the wall in a fake bid for Ms. Chipotle 2014."

Brittany laughed loudly, curling up into a ball to hold her sides.

Brittany's guffawing curved the corners of Santana's mouth, and she shook her head goodnaturedly.

"Y-y-you were so MAD." Brittany gasped, still trying to catch her breath. "I thought you were going to rip my head off."

"Yeah, well, I think locking you in there with the tortillas all night made up for it."

Brittany finally was catching her breath, and reached up to wipe a few tears away. "Well, the jokes on you, I had a monster burrito bowl and it was _amazing_."

"I guess we're even then."

Brittany pushed herself up on her elbows. "Yeah, would seem so."

There was a moment of silence as the two of them tried to figure out what to do with the moment. Santana really believed what she said. And that made things all the more weird for her. Ever since she'd met Brittany they'd gone head to head, stood toe to toe. She wasn't even sure they'd spent more than an hour or so together at any one time and most of that hour was spent listening to Sue yell at them. They'd never had a quiet moment like this, one where they were forced to just listen to each other. Santana definitely wasn't sure what to make of it.

Brittany was less indecisive. She swung her legs around until she was facing Santana sitting cross legged, and put out a hand to Santana.

"So, we're even. Let's make it a blank slate." Noting Santana's hesitation, she continued. "Look, Santana, we've wasted so much of our own and each other's time with this stupid feud. And yeah, there were some funny moments, but I think that having to maintain our schedules so we have the fewest amount of classes together is a bridge too far. We're both captains of the Cheerios. Let's act like it."

Santana hesitated a moment longer, and stuck out her own hand, grasping Brittany's. "I guess. I mean, it's whatever. As long as you keep up your end of the bargain with all this baby stuff. I suppose I can play nice. At least until the project is over."

Brittany sighed. "Baby steps, I guess. It's better than nothing."

Santana pulled her arm away, aware of how warm her face had gotten when Brittany had taken her hand, and she ran a hand through her hair, sighing. "What else does it say we have to do?"

"Wellll…" Brittany said, dragging the binder back into her lap. "We have to have weekly sessions with Coach Roz, updating her on our progress and letting her know that we're on track. We also give updates of how we think the other parent is handling the process."

"So, I get to grade you."

"Well, I get to grade you."

There was a devilish smile on Brittany's face, and try as she might Santana couldn't bite back her own grin. Where Brittany had wiggled up on the bed, she was only a breath away from Santana, who could feel the bed dip slightly with each breath that Brittany took. Santana glanced at the curve of Brittany's smile, her pink lips, glistening with lip gloss, her bright blue eyes twinkling with mischief. She felt her heart thump out of time and her eyes grew wide.

The air between them crackled with the kind of electricity that they'd never allowed themselves to have before. The moment went on longer and longer, and both could feel the shift, but weren't sure how to react to it.

Santana was the first to move, blinking quickly as if waking up from a dream, and breaking the gaze she'd locked with Brittany.

"I, um, I've gotta get some water or something." She said, as she quickly stood up from the bed, and went into the bathroom, closing and locking the door behind her.

Brittany was slower to get up, but she stood up as well and walked over to the window, pressing her head against the glass. She focused in on her breathing for a few moments. She would have been crazy to have missed the way that Santana looked at her. And in some small ways she was intrigued. It wouldn't be the first time she'd had a girl give her that look. Well, not exactly like that, but similar. And where as before she'd been interested, and in some ways giddy, this was the first time that she'd felt that the world wouldn't stop spinning.

She breathed in a few times trying to swallow her mortification. There was no possible way that she was feeling anything other than extreme indigestion at the thought of being near Santana Lopez. The girl who had practically tortured her for the better part of two years. The person who, once in a fit of pique, ground up her first place math tournament trophy and sprinkled it in the school's hydroponic garden. The person, who, if given have a chance, would try her hardest to have her expelled, murdered, or worse. Santana Lopez was not a person to be trifled with and definitely not the person she wanted to have any kind of feelings for, romantic or otherwise.

Brittany went to the bed, grabbing the Flour Baby and cradling it in her arms. She'd been thinking about names for her, but didn't want to suggest anything in case Santana shot it down. But, maybe she should considered diverging a bit from Santana on this project. They'd only been at it for the better part of an afternoon, but Brittany could already feel the dynamic of their relationship changing. Whether things were better or worse, she couldn't be sure.

In the bathroom, Santana ran the water as cold as she could get it, and splashed it into her face a few times. She felt around for the faucet and turned the water off. She reached for a towel, and dabbed at her face, careful not to smudge her mascara.

This was definitely not the way she'd planned on this evening going, much less the whole day. First, she was railroaded into this stupid project with her worst enemy, and now her brain was doing very, very weird things at the thought of Brittany being close to her. Yeah, sure, she liked girls, but she'd never been one of those people that can allow their brain to shut off just because a hot girl walked in the room. She had her standards.

And Brittany definitely didn't come close.

At least, not really. Sure, she was hot. There was no arguing about that. She had an amazing body, perfect, toned legs, and amazing thighs. Her hips made Santana think terrible, dirty thoughts, and her ass was just out of this world. She had a neck that went on for days and Santana could think of how many hours she could wile away planting tender bruises on it's carefully tanned surface.

She pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes again, and tried thinking about baseball.

This was no way to go about it. She would go back in there, they'd work out a schedule, and then she'd go home. No muss, no fuss. And definitely no sitting on the bed. Santana straightened up, and ran a finger over her cheeks. She should have brought her compact so she could touch up her makeup. But, on second thought, maybe it's best that she just keep her head down and get out of there.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock on the door.

"Santana?" Came the questioning voice. "Santana, you probably don't want to drink the water out of the sink. Though, I guess you could. Anyway, I brought you some filtered water from the kitchen. It's cold. Unless you wanted hot water. I know people do sometimes drink it hot when it's hot outside, but I figured since I've seen you drink cold Gatorade at practice-"

Brittany's ramblings were cut off by Santana who swung the door open quickly, taking the glass of water from Brittany's outstretched hand.

Santana drank the whole glass in one breath and handed it back.

"Thanks." She mumbled.

It took Brittany a moment to respond, but she took the glass in her free hand (the one not holding their flour child). "No problem."

Santana brushed past Brittany, careful not to make any contact with her, and headed back towards the bedroom.

"Can we go ahead and work this out? I've got to get home before eight or else my parents are going to flip."

"Yeah, yeah. Sure." Brittany rushed after her into her bedroom, closing the door behind them.

\

The next couple of weeks was a bit stranger than the one that preceded it, and Brittany couldn't figure out if that was a good or a bad thing. On one hand, she was spending a lot more time with Santana in ways she hadn't expected. At school, they could get through Cheerios' practice without it devolving into a shouting match, and health class was almost pleasant.

In the past, their feud had divided the school. Either you were on Team Brittany or Team Santana, and there was no in between. It was almost worse than the Montagues and the Capulets. But as Brittany and Santana's relationship changed, so did the lines that had been drawn around the students at McKinley. Now, students could walk the halls without one faction or another feeling the need to extract some petty revenge. Even the cafeteria was beginning to mix, when students saw that mingling with a friend on the other side of the Brittana feud wouldn't end in a slushie to the face. Some people were even saying that Santana had gone days without outright insulting anybody, or making a teacher cry, but that was mostly dismissed as too fantastic to be real.

"I'm telling you guys, I saw her." Artie Abrams said, brandishing a french fry as he told his story. "Rachel was wearing a sweater with a unicorn on it. _A unicorn_ , you guys. And Santana looked at her. Stood perfectly still for what had to be a solid minute. And then just walked away. Without one word."

Mercedes, Tina and their friend Kurt Hummel sat near him at the lunch table. They had been listening with rapt attention, but couldn't contain their disbelief at this last point.

"Artie, look. I love you, but you're high on crack. Maybe it's time for you to get a new prescription on your glasses." Kurt said, patting Artie gently on the shoulder.

"Yeah, Kurt's right. There's no way Santana Diabla Lopez would leave an opportunity like that hanging. Rachel would still be roasting on the bonfire of that burn, believe me." Tina agreed.

Artie pointed across the cafeteria to where Rachel strolled in, laughing with her boyfriend Finn. "Does that look like the face of a person who was recently destroyed on the altar of Santana Lopez insults?"

"No, but-" Mercedes started.

"And I swear to god that yesterday she wore a sweater with a straight up unicorn on it. How do you explain that? How do you explain a unicorn sweater wearing Rachel Berry making it out of McKinley High unscathed? If she was anywhere in Lima, no, anywhere in Ohio and wearing that sweater Santana would have found out about it, and burned her so hard her eyebrows would have been seared off. How do you explain that?"

He pounded his fist into his hand in triumph as the group sat speechless.

"You can't!"

They all thought about it for a second.

"So, what are you saying, Artie? That someone has declawed Santana?" Kurt asked.

"That I don't know. But she's been acting weird lately, and I have a couple of classes with her and-"

"Hey guys!" Brittany chirped as she bounced over to the table, carrying her lunch tray. "What's the topic of conversation today?"

"Santana Diabla Lopez." Kurt drawled, taking a sip of his drink.

"Her middle name is Marie, Kurt."

Everyone at the table stopped, and looked at Brittany strangely.

"How do you even know that, Britt?" Asked Tina.

Brittany's eyebrows went almost to her forehead before she stuffed a fry into her mouth and began chewing rapidly.

"Um, I dunno, Tina, we've only been on the Cheerios together for two years. So, maybe I just know, you know?"

A look passed between Mercedes, Tina and Artie, but they didn't push the topic any further.

Tina turned back to Artie. "So, you're saying that something about her has changed? I dunno if I buy it Artie. If looks could kill, then the everybody on campus would be dead. Maybe she hasn't said anything with words, but her eyes are still as deadly as ever. So, personally, I think she's still pretty evil."

"Well, I'm telling you what I saw. That's it. No more, no less." Artie responded with a shrug.

Mercedes turned towards Brittany. "What do you think, Britt? Do you think that Santana could change? You know her better than anybody, probably, since you two have spent so much time trying to destroy one another."

Brittany took a sip of her drink and swallowed loudly. "I'm not sure. I mean, I used to think she was the worst person at this school, but now I dunno."

"Well, what changed?" Mercedes pushed.

"People get older, mature. Maybe she's done being a bitch."

"Yeah, because people would totally just forgive her for the heaps of torture that she's done to us over the years." Kurt scoffed.

"Well, that's the thing. I mean, she wasn't very nice to us. Not me, or you, or anybody who's close to me. And generally speaking she can be a bit, um, prickly. But, she's really nice to her friends. Mike, Quinn and Puck. Sometimes she can even be nice to Rachel, I've heard."

Tina raised an eyebrow. "Brittany, she literally told everyone you had lost your hearing over the summer, and had people screaming into your ear for the first few weeks of school."

"Maybe Brittany has a point." Mercedes countered. "I mean, Mike has a really high opinion of her. He says that she can be a jerk, but once she's your friend, she's basically the most loyal person on Earth."

Now the attention turned to Mercedes.

"How do you know that, Mercedes? Are you hanging out with Mike?" Kurt asked.

"No! What, no. I mean, he's an okay enough guy, but no. We have like three classes together, so it's really not that weird."

Tina rolled her eyes. "It wasn't really that weird until your long and rambling explanation made it super weird."

Mercedes tried again. "I just meant that-"

"Look, I think we can all agree that there are tons of people walking around who are acting hella weird. And two of them are at this table right now." Artie said, placing his tray into his lap, and pushing his wheelchair away.

Kurt laughed, and put his tray on top of Artie's. "Let's go, Tina. Artie and I are going to go catch some sun before fifth period."

Tina smiled at Mercedes in sympathy and stood to follow.

When they were left alone, Brittany tried to act as natural as possible. Sure, maybe she had been caught defending Santana a few times, whereas before she hadn't had a nice word to say about the other girl. They had been spending a lot of time together, away from the prying eyes at the school. And when it was just them, Santana was different. She was kinder and more patient, and just better. But she wasn't sure what would happen to their relationship once the project was over. Maybe Santana was just biding her time so she could use what she'd learned against Brittany against her. Maybe she was spending time charming her siblings, and being polite to her parents, and making her feel, well, feel in those ways that she felt (that she didn't dare explore), maybe she was doing it all as part of some long con. Brittany wasn't sure, of course, who really knew, but she liked to believe that she wasn't as bad a judge of character as all that. She liked to believe that if this was all a ruse that she would have been able to see through it. But it seemed, contrary to everything she'd ever known about the girl, that Santana actually seemed to like her. It was weird, they'd spent so long hating each other that they didn't get the chance to know each other. And that made Brittany feel unbelievably sad.

She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't see Mercedes perk up at someone out of view, give a quick nod, and then begin to pack up her things.

"Sorry, Britt, I've gotta run. But, I'll see you after school, okay?"

Still lost in her own world, Brittany only nodded. "Okay, Mercedes. I'll see you later."

Mercedes stopped, and leaned down beside where Brittany still sat, nudging her gently.

"Hey, Britt, don't worry, okay. Everything's going to be alright."

Before Brittany could reply, Mercedes had given her a quick peck on the temple, and was off like a shot. She looked after her for a moment, and went back to picking at her fries, suddenly not very hungry. Suddenly, there was a whirring outside the edge of her consciousness and she looked quickly around the cafeteria. She somehow felt Santana before she saw her. The feeling of eyes drilling into her from very far away brought her attention across the room, and she saw Santana staring at her, trying as hard as she could to be inconspicuous to the friends that were surrounding her, distracted by their own conversation.

Brittany thought maybe she was missing something until she noticed Santana raise her eyebrows quickly and then subtly nod her head in the direction of the cafeteria entrance. Brittany frowned. Santana rolled her eyes, and then held up her phone, waggling it gently. Suddenly Puck turned to ask her a question, and trying to put her phone back in her lap, Santana slung it across the table, where it collided directly with Finn's face. Everyone was on their feet in an instant, rushing over to Finn who only rubbed his nose in annoyance, and held out the phone to Santana.

Brittany didn't bother to hide her laugh as she watched Santana fumble her way through an explanation. In fact, she had to put her forehead down on the table she was laughing so hard, and the group at the table next to her kept sending curious glances her way to see what was up. Brittany couldn't help it though, and didn't mind the stares. The look on Santana's face was enough to keep her going for another few minutes until the laughter had dissolved into little hiccups as she wiped the tears from her face.

Suddenly her phone rang beside her.

"Hello?"

"Are you done with your laugh riot, or have you got a few more chuckles in you?"

Brittany was surprised to hear Santana's voice on the other side of the line, and looked back to the table where she'd sat only a few moments before. Most of the group was still there, but Santana was gone. Brittany looked around quickly.

"Well, you've gotta admit it was pretty funny. I can't believe you beaned him with your phone like that. Right in the face, even! Gosh that was amazing. I've known Finn since we were about twelve years old and there have been plenty of times when I wanted to punch him in the nose, but this is the first time I've seen somebody really go for the prize. I'm proud of you." Brittany finished with mock enthusiasm.

"Har dee har har."

Brittany didn't even have to be looking at Santana to know that she was smiling. After spending two years only seeing the most fake of Santana's smiles, Brittany was starting to see more and more of the real ones. She'd seen so many of them that she'd started naming them. Santana was no doubt doing the classic, 'i-totally-think-what-you're-saying-is-funny-but-i'm-going-to-pretend-that-i-don't-but-clearly-i-do'. It was a smile that Brittany was finding herself see more and more, and look forward to every time. She was actually starting the realize that Santana laughing at her jokes (and not just laughing at her), was one of her favorite parts of the day. She liked the feeling that stirred in the pit of her stomach when she could say something funny, and Santana's eyes would light up as if she'd just heard the funniest thing in the world. She tried to ignore what the feeling meant as much as possible, but it was clear that something was happening between them. Something much different than what had been happening before.

Brittany brought her attention to focus on what Santana was saying.

"Anyway, I thought we could meet up before next period to talk about what we're going to say to Roz. For our weekly evaluations, I mean."

Brittany raised an eyebrow. "Santana, we did that last week, and the week before. Do we really need to do it again?"

"I just want to make sure that we're on the same page, Britt. C'mon, please?"

Brittany smiled softly to herself. After Santana realized that she couldn't bully Brittany into doing what she wanted, she became much more polite. If anything, she would go out of her way to make sure that Brittany was always on board with what they were doing. At first, it had felt weird, like Santana was trying to get something over on her. But as time went on, and her defenses came down, it was clear that this was simply the way that Santana made sure that Brittany played nice, and followed their agreement. But, also somewhere in the back of her mind, Brittany wanted to believe that Santana had changed. That she really didn't hate her anymore, and maybe had a little sympathy for her somewhere in her heart.

In the end, there was something about the way that Santana said please that made Brittany come undone. She doubted there was anything she could deny her when she said please. And that worried her very much.

"Yeah, sure, Santana. We can meet. Where are you?"

There was an audible sigh of relief. "Coach said we could use her office room, and nobody will bother us. Even if someone comes in we can just say that we're doing some prep for the upcoming competition."

"Okay, I'll be there in a few."

"Thanks, Brittany. See you then."

Brittany nodded her affirmation, and locked her phone. Something she'd learned over the course of the past weeks was that Santana Lopez cared about her grades. Brittany had spent a couple evenings at her house, and after her initial astonishment about how GINORMOUS the place was, she noticed that the Lopezes had practically built a little shrine to their daughter's accomplishments. There were Santana's cheerleading trophies, and her sister, Selena's, karate championship medals, and piano recital certificates. But, in the midst of all that were the true centerpieces. The Lopez girl's unbroken streak of honor roll certificates. Santana's had been going strong since the sixth grade, and for the past three years, she'd had nothing but all A's. Brittany had been impressed. Her own grades were good, but while she excelled in maths and science, she couldn't seem to get better than a C in any English classes.

But for Santana, it was a way of life. So nothing could get in the way of that. Seeing that made Brittany understand a bit more about why the project meant so much to Santana. And it helped Brittany not feel tempted to hang it over Santana's head quite as much, since she knew what it would mean if they failed. Her parents didn't seem the type to disown her if she had bad grades, but it seemed like something in Santana herself, that pushed her towards excellence.

She packed up her stuff, and left the table. She spare one last glance at Finn who was still rubbing his nose, and chuckled as she head out the door.


	3. Chapter 3

Santana was nervous.

She had no right to be, and frankly she didn't know why. She had been sitting in Sue's office for the past couple of minutes, but ever since she'd gotten off the phone with Brittany, she kept noticing her leg doing that nervous bouncing thing that she hated so much. She didn't have many tells. She'd tried to squash them all, but this was one that just wouldn't quit. She looked at her phone again, noting the time. She scrolled through phone list. She'd surreptitiously listed Brittany as Blonde Cheerleader (no, the other one) in her phone book. She had gotten the number months ago from Quinn as part of a plan to drive Brittany crazy with text messages at all hours of the night, but then finals had started, and a few weeks later the infamous 'gargling incident', and her plan was forgotten. She hadn't deleted the number for reasons she still couldn't readily identify, but she was glad she hadn't.

Santana continued scrolling through her phone list, and saw that an increasing number of her incoming and outgoing calls were to Blonde Cheerleader. They had certainly been in contact more than ever since the project had started. At first, Santana expected to be annoyed. She figured that Brittany would use every opportunity to call attention to their bargain, and rub it in her face. But, on the contrary, she'd been quite cool about the whole thing. She'd made good on her promise to keep Santana from being mean to other people, but other than that was kind of chill. Santana realized that she didn't mind hanging out with Brittany as much as she thought she would. In fact, most days she'd be excited to hear the special ringtone that meant she'd received a text from Brittany. She tried not to think too hard about what that feeling meant. She figured that every day they worked together, was a day closer to her getting her A and them finishing this project, and she was certainly looking forward to that.

Santana scrolled back up her call list. She had last called Brittany almost eight minutes ago, and she wondered where she could be. It was possible that she'd gotten lost again. For a person who'd spent her entire high school career at one school, Brittany seemed to make it a habit of getting lost every where she went. Santana learned that Mercedes would always meet her at her locker after class, so they could walk to the next one together. A few weeks ago Santana would have thought it was another example of how completely stupid she was, but today Santana wasn't so sure. She knew that Brittany was smart, brilliant even. She was in the most advanced math class in school, and was only a junior. She would sometimes start talking about Mathletes practice and Santana would just sit back in the river of equations and polynomials. But she also noticed that Brittany's brain moved at a mile a minute. While everyone else was still talking about the old subject, she'd already moved on to the next one. It wasn't stupidity. It was just different. That made Santana even more wary of her, to be honest. There was something about Brittany's brain that she didn't understand, and that made her uneasy. She was usually really good at reading people, and it seemed that she just couldn't figure Brittany out.

And that's what lead to her next big conundrum. If she went on appearances alone, Brittany was probably one of the sweetest people she'd ever met. She was always respectful to her parents, never yelled at her siblings, even though once they almost got jello all over her Gucci bookbag, was always respectful to people even when they didn't deserve it. The only time she'd ever seen Brittany get really mad at someone was when some yuppie douchebag jumped in the line at Starbucks in front of about half a dozen people, and Brittany had told them off until he had no choice but to leave. The rest of the line had clapped, Santana had looked at Brittany with something close to awe, and Brittany had only shrugged and asked Santana if she thought that they kept the pumpkin spice back there year long, or had it brought in on black helicopters in September.

Brittany was a mystery wrapped up in an enigma with a big, ol question mark bow on top. If Santana wasn't so sure this was the same person who dyed all her panties a sickening shade of green their freshman year, she wouldn't have thought her guilty of anything. And yet here they were. Two years and a bitter rivalry later. She had to admit, though, there was something innocent about her. Santana thought about Brittany looking up and down the hallway, and stopping each student she passed by how to get to Sue's office, only to get distracted by some abstract point of trivia, or the color of the kid's shoelaces.

"What are you smiling about, Lopez?"

The sharp bark came from the open office door, and Santana turned to see Sue strolling in, a manila file folder in her hand.

"What? Nothing, I wasn't smiling." Santana sputtered, quickly slipping her phone into her hooded Cheerio's varsity jacket.

"Yeah, sure. You weren't smiling, and you weren't daydreaming, and you certainly weren't wasting time in MY conference room."

Santana sat up, straighter. "Sorry, Coach."

Sue peered over her glasses, looking about the room. "Where's Pierce? I thought you were meeting her here?"

Santana nodded quickly. "Yeah, she's on her way."

"Well, she's late. Tell her to dawdle on her own time."

"Sorry, Coach. She probably just got held up. I'm sure she'll be here soon. We won't take up any more time than absolutely necessary."

Sue glared. "Good. I hope not."

With that, she turned and marched out of the office, sporting a smile of her own. Her smile dropped as she saw someone sprinting through the front of her office.

"How about you keep it below mach ten, Pierce? We don't want another incident of you crashing into someone. Nearly took out my co-captain with that speed."

"Sorry, Coach. I saw Mercedes in the hall and she wanted-"

"Bup bup bup." Sue placed a single finger over Brittany's lips, shushing her. "What did I tell you about your friends?"

Brittany tried her best not to roll her eyes, failing miserably in the attempt. "That you never want to hear anything about my loser friends unless it's in the context of them becoming world renowned cheerleading champions, and then, and only then, in the context of how we could use my knowledge of them and our friendship to destroy them and steal their power."

Brittany spoke in a monotone as if reciting this from memory.

Sue patted her on the head, and smiled. "Good. Now, get in there and have your little meeting, then get out of my office."

Brittany nodded, and bounced off, happy to be from Sue's stare. She went into the back office, and noted Santana, her leg bouncing a little like it did when she was nervous, and smiled.

"She's gone now."

Santana turned to her with surprise, like she was the last person she'd expected to see.

"Who?"

"Sue. She's gone. You don't have to worry."

Santana frowned slightly. "I wasn't worried."

Now it was Brittany's turn to frown. "Oh." She shook herself and sat down, setting the flour baby on the table with a thump. "Evangeline!"

Santana looked as though she still wasn't following the conversation and directed her attention completely on Brittany.

"What?"

"A name. For our baby."

For some reason, hearing Brittany say 'our baby', sent alarm bells ringing in Santana's head, and she tried once again to focus.

"You want to name our-" She stopped. She tried again. "You want to name the baby, Evangeline?"

Brittany nodded eagerly, snapping a few photos of the baby on the table, and sending them off to Roz, to document a diaper change. She then handed the bundle to Santana and took a few more pictures of her holding the baby, and then a few selfies with the three of them. Santana carefully sat the baby on the table and took out her notebook.

"You don't like it?" Brittany asked. Her voice was just as cheerful, but Santana kicked herself for the trace of sadness it held.

"No, it's not that I don't like it." She stopped herself. She'd gotten in the habit of trying to appease Brittany when she was worried that she was sad. She couldn't afford for her to have that kind of power. "I just don't care is all. You name it whatever you want."

Brittany seemed to think on that as Santana leafed through the notebook, pulling out a couple of sheets of paper. Santana placed them both in front of Brittany, and brought a chair over so she could sit beside her.

"I've prepared some scripts for the conversation with Roz today. I've already memorized mine, of course, and you'll find that it's very congratulatory of you, so don't worry. And this one is yours. I know we only have until our free period to memorize the whole thing, but I think if you just-"

"No."

Santana looked at Brittany, sure she'd misheard. "Britt, we need to go through all this."

"I'll come up with a name we'll both like, and then we'll decide together. That's how it should be."

Santana rolled her eyes. "Brittany, we're not here to come up with a name for the st- For the little bag of flour, ok? We're here to make sure I get an A. That we both get an A. On the biggest grade of our semester in this class. So, will you please just work with me?"

"I don't mind the script, Santana. I'll try to remember it. But I think the name thing is important."

"I've gotta disagree with you there, champ."

"It's not just some silly bag of flour. It's _our_ silly bag of flour. That means something."

Santana looked at glanced over as Brittany pulled her script towards her, and began to read over it. That nagging voice in the back of her head told her how cute it was that Brittany moved her lips when she read. It whispered that with just a swipe of her hand, she could push the hair away that was blocking Brittany's neck, and have unrestricted access. It muttered that Brittany's lips were probably even softer than they looked. It told her that if two girls could have a baby, Santana would already be pregnant from all the times she'd thought about Brittany when she was, well, letting her mind run wild, late at night in her bed. Hell, she'd be pregnant a dozen times over.

Brittany could feel Santana's eyes on her, but didn't comment. She tried to concentrate on the words Santana had given her, but they kept going in and out of focus. All she could see was Santana staring out of the corner of her eye. All she could hear was the gentle breath that Santana breathed beside her. All she could feel was the slight bounce of Santana's knee under the table.

"Would you mind stopping that?"

The bouncing stopped. "What?"

"Well, first, your leg. Normally, I don't mind, but you bouncing it is driving me crazy."

Santana looked a little put out. "Sorry."

There was a beat, and Brittany pretended to read, but knew that she was still the subject of Santana's attention.

"And secondly, it's, um, too hot. Maybe I should just take this and read it outside."

Only when Brittany turned to look at her, did both girls realize how close they'd been sitting. They were only a breath apart, and looking into each other's eyes, felt the moments slip by without notice.

"Are you two going to sit here all afternoon making googly eyes at each other, or can I have my conference room back?"

Sue's voice echoed through the office, and like a physical force, pushed the two of them away from each other. She strode in, opening a file cabinet and ruffling through the papers.

Santana was on her feet in an instant. "Coach, we were talking about the project."

Her voice was a little shaky, and it seemed like she didn't believe her own words. Sue didn't turn around.

"Didn't look like a lot of talking going on to me."

Brittany was on her feet, too. "It was a lull."

Sue scoffed and pulled out a sheet of paper, examining it closely before closing the drawer.

Brittany grabbed her own paper and headed towards the door. "Anyway, she's right, we'd better get out of her office. I'll see you later, Santana."

Santana didn't bother to say anything, but gave Sue a warning glare and stormed out behind her co-captain.

Brittany was following the sounds of chaos back to the lunchroom when her phone dinged and she pulled it out of her pocket.

 **Baby Mama: Just ignore Sue.**

She smiled a little, then thinking about the moment she'd just rushed out on, blushed even more.

 **B. Pierce: I always try to. :P Anyway, I'll memorize your thing.**

 **Baby Mama: It's whatever. Just hit all the highlights.**

 **B. Pierce: Will do, Captain.**

Brittany thought about it for a moment before smiling a devilish grin and typing another message.

 **B. Pierce: Santana Jr.**

She didn't have to wait long before her phone rang a few times in rapid succession.

 **Baby Mama: Nope**

 **Baby Mama: No way, Pierce.**

 **Baby Mama: There's no way we're naming her that.**

Brittany smiled down at her phone. It was a step in the right direction. At least Santana had stopped calling their baby, 'it'. She looked up from the phone and glanced around for a familiar face. Luckily, she saw Artie rolling down the hall and moved to join him. They both had the same English class in the next period. She shouted in greeting and he stopped to wait while she caught up, but Brittany's thoughts were still a bit far away.

\

"Do you think people can change?"

Brittany, Mercedes, Tina and Kurt were sitting on the floor of Brittany's bedroom, bedazzling some rhinestones to a half dozen pair of high tops for the Glee club. Everyone but Brittany was in the Glee club, and Brittany said that she would help them get their costumes ready for the upcoming musical rehearsals. Normally, no one except for Mercedes liked coming over to her house. Mostly because all of her siblings could be annoying in one way or another, and they weren't particularly well behaved. But her house was a central point between all of them, and no one wanted to be driving home for half an hour when they could be home in ten. Brittany had shouted at her parents to keep the peace, and dragged her friends up the stairs. Even Mercedes, who loved spoiling the baby, Michael, and literally had to be dragged away.

Now, an hour and a half into using the glue gun, and having burned her fingers at least eight times, she was definitely feeling more introspective.

Tina thought for a minute. "Sure. I guess. I mean, Kurt used to be a spoiled, little diva, and now look at him, taking one for the cause!"

Tina smiled, nudging Kurt a bit with her shoulder as she spoke. He appreciated the ribbing and only grinned mockingly in her direction.

"Exactly. And Tina was a sad, lonely spinster, and now… Oh, wait, you're still a sad, lonely spinster."

Mercedes let loose a loud laugh, and Brittany had to chuckle as well.

"Watch it, Hummel. I know how to use this glue gun." She pointed it at him menancingly.

He raised his hands, and went back to work, looking at Brittany with a sidelong glance.

"What's up, Britt? Do you think someone has changed?"

Brittany shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. It certainly feels like it.

Tina looked up from her work. "Could it be the mystery person that you're texting all the time. The one that has you grinning at your phone like a loon?"

"I haven't-"

"The person who keeps you from your friends way too much, and yet you won't let us meet?" Kurt added, waggling his eyes at Brittany.

"It's not that, you guys." She said, firmly. "I've just been really busy with Cheerios and mathletes, and this project for health class."

Kurt grabbed a new shoe, and started sticking sequins on. "Is that that flour baby thing? JBL got paired to do that with Lauren and I heard they broke the baby on the second day. Coach Roz was going to fail them, but JBL wouldn't stop sobbing until she gave them another chance. I heard he cried for three hours."

"Yeah, that project is as annoying as who you're paired up with. I did it last year with Puck, and my parents finally had to change my cell number because he wouldn't stop texting me pictures of his pecs." Tina shuddered at the memory.

"Who'd you get paired up with, Britt?" Kurt asked.

Brittany's hands fumbled with the glue gun as she pulled the trigger and a dot of hot glue spread on the back of her hand.

"Ow!" She screamed, dropping the gun and bringing her hand to her chest.

The others gathered around her, but Mercedes waved them away.

"It's okay, it doesn't get that hot anyway, we'll put her hand in some water and have her back to work in a bit. In the meantime, don't stop sequining!"

Kurt and Tina gave Mercedes a mock salute as she led Brittany out of the bedroom, and into the bathroom. Brittany sat on the counter, with Mercedes standing beside her. It was silent for a few minutes, and Brittany relaxed as the cool water ran over her hand.

"Yes, people can change."

Brittany jolted at Mercedes words, banging her hand on the faucet, and hissing loudly. Mercedes laughed, and took Brittany's hand in her own, guiding it under the water and holding it there.

She continued. "People can change, but I think sometimes, most of the time, they never change, we just get to know another side of them."

Brittany grimaced. "But how can you know what's the real side? How can you know which side is the truth? I don't-" She sighed. "How do you know which side to trust?"

Mercedes shook her head. "You can't always know. That's the problem, I guess. But, I have a feeling that your heart will show you the way."

Brittany sighed again, and hung her head until her chin touched her chest. With the hand that wasn't holding Brittany's, Mercedes brought her finger up under Brittany's chin, bringing her eyes to her own.

"You don't have to tell me everything, Britt, not if you don't want to. But I'm your best friend. You know you can trust me, right?"

Brittany nodded.

"Good. Now, just tell me one thing. I'm going to ask you one question and I want you to answer it truthfully."

Brittany nodded again, but a bit more slowly this time. Had she and Santana been found out? She wouldn't have minded Mercedes knowing a few weeks ago. But now… Now that her feelings for Santana were a bit murkier, she couldn't tell her. She had to figure herself out before she told Mercedes. Even though they were best friends.

"Britt…" Mercedes began, warningly, seeing her hesitation.

Brittany bit her tongue. Of course, if Mercedes asked her straight out, she wouldn't lie to her. No matter how difficult the answers were.

"I promise, Mercedes."

That seemed to satisfy her, and she continued.

"Is this one of your knuckleheaded exes? Do I need to go out there and choke a ho?"

Brittany was able to hide her sigh of relief, but couldn't hide her smile. "No, Mercedes, nothing like that."

"Good."

Mercedes took Brittany's hand from under the water and examined it closely. "Do you all have any aloe around here?"

Brittany thought for a moment. "Maybe in the medicine cabinet. I know we used to keep some when Michael would get diaper rash."

Mercedes rustled through the cabinet, and found a small bottle, then came over and gently spread some of the lotion on Brittany's hand, which was fading from a bright red to a dull pink. Brittany watched her gentle movements and smiled.

"You always take such good care of me, Cedes."

"Cause I love you, kid. And you love me back. And I will make mincemeat out of anyone who tries to mess with you. Which is why I almost got suspended last year after Santana initiated the great instagram wars of 2014."

Brittany hopped off the counter, and wrapped Mercedes up in a warm hug. "The same goes for you, boo. I won't let anything happen to you."

"See, and that's why we're friends." Mercedes laughed into the hug.

Brittany grabbed Mercedes with her good hand, and headed back to her bedroom.

"Let's get back to work before Kurt and Tina take all the good designs!"

\

Santana lay on her bed staring at her phone. It was six o'clock on Sunday night and she was bored. She'd gotten home a bit earlier than usual, and even then her parents wouldn't be home until late. They had a function at her mom's law firm, and even though they invited her to go, she'd rather stay in and stare at the four walls than go to another stuffy, boring dinner with people whom she'd never met. Selena was at a friend's house, and would spend the night. Mike was busy, too. He worked part time at his parent's shop, and sometimes didn't get home until ten. There'd be no bothering him while he was running around, and she couldn't bother him. Normally, she'd be out with friends, or at a party. Maybe even hosting one of her own. But she didn't feel up to it tonight. She went down the list of names in her mind. People who would answer when she called. People who would be free. But there was only one person who she wanted to speak to.

She didn't dare say her name aloud, but for the first time Santana tried to consider what it was exactly that she was feeling for Brittany. Yes, Brittany was hot. That was the easiest idea to get out of the way first. She'd always thought so, from a critical angle. Even when they'd been mortal enemies, Santana would have admitted that. Secondly, she was, well, she was nice. She was actually kind to people. And not in that fake way that Santana utilized to get what she wanted. It seemed genuine, it seemed real. But, said another voice, if that were true, then how had she been able to completely tarnish Santana's years at McKinley? Well, Santana had done her fair share of tarnishing, if you got right down to it. She never missed an opportunity to turn the screws a little bit, and that had made things harder for both of them. It didn't let Brittany off scot free, but it did explain things a little. Of course, Brittany would have been mean to her, she was being mean to Brittany. She couldn't expect someone to roll over, and be slushied without doing something for revenge. That didn't make her a bad person.

Then what did it make her?

Santana rolled over on the bed, and sighed as she stared up at the ceiling. Everything in her head was all topsy turvy, and she couldn't make sense of it. If Brittany wasn't her enemy anymore then what was she? What did Santana want her to be?

Her phone beeped, and as if she'd heard her thoughts across town, Santana was surprised to see the message was from Brittany.

 **Blonde Cheerleader: I need help.**

There was no explanation, and Santana's heart started beating quickly in her chest.

 **S. Lopez: What's wrong?**

 **Blonde Cheerleader: Are you busy?**

 **S. Lopez: No. Just tell me what's wrong, Brittany.**

 **Blonde Cheerleader: I'm in the car now, I'll be at your house in a few minutes. Can't drive and text.**

Santana jumped out of bed, rushed down the stairs, then thought about it and rushed back up the stairs to grab the flour baby and back down again. Now she was really worried. What could be wrong? A million things raced through her head, and she tried to calm herself. If things were really that bad, then Brittany would have called her parents, or Mercedes. She wouldn't have called her worst enemy. Or former worst enemy.

Whatever.

Santana paced back and forth in the living room, stopping every few moments to look out the window as a car's headlights passed by. She was about to call Brittany and demand she tell her what was going on when a pair of headlights seemed to turn into her driveway. She was up to the front door in a flash, flinging it open as she watched a small hatchback pull in. She'd ridden in the car a few times and recognized it immediately. It was Brittany.

She tried to ignore the drop in the pit of her stomach when she saw Brittany come out of the car and rush towards the house. Brittany stopped a few feet in front of Santana, on the steps leading to the front door. She looked out of breath, and her cheeks were shiny, as though she had been crying.

"I didn't know what else to do, San." Brittany whispered so softly that Santana was sure she'd misheard.

Santana didn't need to hear anymore, she took Brittany by the arm, and led her inside. She wouldn't let Brittany explain until she'd calmed down a bit, so she brewed up some tea, and gave Brittany a blanket, so she could curl up on the couch. It wasn't cold, but Santana wasn't really sure what to do, and wrapping up always made her feel safe, so she figured it might work for Brittany. After a few moments of Santana sitting nervously on the edge of the couch, Brittany seemed to have caught her breath, and looked around suspiciously.

"Where is everybody?"

Santana scratched her elbow. "My parents are at a thing, and Selena is with a friend. They won't be home until late. You don't have to worry."

"I'm not worried, I just-" She stopped as her face scrunched up like she wanted to cry again.

Santana panicked, and scooted over to Brittany, placing an arm around her shoulders. At first she was sure that Brittany would reject her touch, but the opposite happened. Brittany turned fully into Santana, burying her face in her shoulder, and pushing Santana up against the couch. With no choice now, Santana wrapped her other arm around Brittany and began shushing her gently.

"It's okay, don't worry. Whatever it is, we'll figure it out."

Brittany hiccuped a few times. "I just didn't know who else to go to. Nobody would really understand, and I knew you would."

Santana pushed Brittany a bit away and looked into her eyes. "Brittany, what's happened?"

Brittany bit her lip thoughtfully. "So, you know the regional tryouts next weekend?"

Santana nodded. Of course she knew that. Sue had been pushing them to the brink for the past month, and showed no signs of letting up. Since she'd interrupted them during their meeting in her conference room a few days earlier, she'd seemed more intent on making her two captain's lives a living hell. At least they were in it together.

"Well, I just found out that the Mathletes are having a big competition that day, too. One of the other teams dropped out at the last minute, and the officials decided that the team from McKinley could replace them. On the biggest day of the year for Coach! She'll kill me if I miss it, but I can't let down my teammates. If I don't go, things could end badly for us, and we need this win, 'cause Principal Figgins keeps threatening to cut our funding."

Brittany was getting more worked up as she told the story, and Santana brought her in for another hug. She justified it as her trying to comfort a friend, but truthfully she couldn't get over how good Brittany smelled, and putting her face into the other girl's hair was kind of heaven. She chided herself. She should be comforting Brittany, not trying to smell her hair like some sort of weirdo. She pulled herself away again, wrinkling her brow slightly.

"I don't get it, Britt."

"Santana, I have to choose. The math team needs me."

"So? Look, as much as I am in awe of your crazy smart math brain, mathletes are not the Cheerios. The Cheerios are going places. **We** are places. If you play your cards right being a captain on the Cheerios means you can pick what school you want to go to anywhere in the country. The Mathletes is a hobby."

Brittany pulled back even further. "It's more than a hobby, Santana. It's the place where I realized that I was more than just my dance moves, or my body or whatever. It's the place that made me feel like I belonged. When you were torturing me, and I couldn't get away, I would go there, and feel like I mattered, and like, there were people at that school, more than just Mercedes, who cared about me."

Santana crossed her arms. "Well, is it worth losing your spot on the Cheerios? Not just being the captain, Brittany, if you aren't there for the regional try outs Sue will probably have you kicked out of school. This will be after she burns down your house."

Brittany nodded sadly, the tears forming again in her eyes. Now, Santana felt bad. She hadn't meant to make things worse. She tried again.

"There's gotta be some way to figure this out."

"I've been driving around all afternoon, trying to come up with ideas, but I'm almost out of time. Mrs. Griffin needs my final answer by tomorrow, and I don't know what to do."

"Well…" Santana began thoughtfully. "What do you normally when you have to make a decision?"

Brittany thought about it for a moment. "I'd normally ask Mercedes, but she's been MIA. I haven't seen much of her all weekend."

"What about your parents?"

"I don't want them to know I'm waffling. My mom tends to think that the best thing going on in my life right now is Cheerios. She'd never force me to make a decision, but I know which side she'd come down on. I don't want to talk to someone whose mind is already made up."

Santana shook her head. "But why me, Britt? I've only recently stopped being your absolute, worst enemy. Why would you possibly care about my opinion?"

"Because you always stand up for yourself. You don't let anybody walk all over you, except maybe Sue, and even then you don't take her insults lying down. I really respect that about you, I guess. You love the Cheerios, but it's the means to an end, and you don't let people stop you from getting what you want. You're tenacious. I learned that the hard way after our three day silent-off."

Brittany smiled as she remembered. She doesn't remember what started it, but the both of them had refused to speak to anyone until the other had apologized. For what, she couldn't be sure. It had taken three days for Principal Figgins to drag them both down to the office and threaten expulsion before they would say a word, and only then if they said them at the same time. Brittany had almost felt like she would have exploded if she didn't say something, but Santana had looked cool as a cucumber.

Now, Santana looked bashful, and Brittany smiled again. She looked at Santana, wearing a pair of ratty Cheerios sweatpants and t-shirt, her hair tousled and messy, practically no makeup on, except for some lip gloss; and realized that she'd never seen her look more beautiful.

She was feeling particularly confident (probably because they were alone in Santana's house), and opened her mouth to tell Santana how gorgeous she found her that evening, but she was interrupted.

"Thanks, I guess. I mean, thanks. That's nice of you to say."

"It's true."

Santana shook herself, as if she was trying to shake off the compliment.

"You too. I mean, I always admired the way you stood up to me, even though I was hella annoyed because of it. Not many people do that. A lot are like Rachel, they just roll over and take it. Some are like Mercedes, they just ignore me until I move on. Most are like Artie, too afraid to say anything. But, you, I dunno, you gave as good as you got. I had to respect that, in a way."

Brittany watched the bashful look creep over Santana's face, and she reached up to tuck a strand bit of hair behind Santana's ear. The look she received made her heart want to stop. Santana looked up at her, through hooded eyes, a glimpse of pink as Santana wet her lips, a slight shift as they both leaned towards each other. Brittany had never felt something so inevitable as the kiss she wanted to place on Santana's lips. But suddenly, as if waking up from a dream, Santana pulled back.

"Um, yeah, let me go check on the tea."

She jumped up from the couch, and off to the kitchen. Brittany pouted. She wasn't sure, but she had the feeling that kissing Santana would be like nothing she'd experienced before. She could feel her face and cheeks burning and knew she was probably as red as she's ever been. She hadn't really been thinking about it. One moment, she had been worried about what she would say to Sue so she wouldn't have to go into the witness protection program and the next she was desperate to feel the heat of Santana's lips on her own. She reached for the cup of tea that she'd laid on the coffee table, and giggled to herself. She must have some effect on Santana if she forgot that she'd brought the tea out already. Brittany wasn't sure where this was going, but she was certainly having fun torturing Santana (even if she was torturing herself at the same time), so she'd just enjoy it while it lasted. A part of her thought it was a proper revenge for all the times that Santana had dealt some injury on her, but on the other hand Santana was just really, so very hot. Even when they'd been at each other's throats, Brittany had noticed her flawless skin, her amazing figure, her killer abs, her smile (including the adorable dimple on her cheek), just everything perfect about her. And Brittany hadn't been lying when she said she admired her, but there was something else. Ever since the start of this project, she had felt something change about Santana. She was still kind of a bitch, but it covered up something deeper inside. Something softer, more vulnerable. Something that, if left exposed to the world, would die. And there was something precious about that.

Brittany snuggled deeper into the cozy blanket and took another sip of the tea. She wasn't sure what was happening with her and Santana, but she knew two things. One was that she had to be careful. As much as she liked messing with Santana, she didn't want to hurt her. The other was that she was going to get that kiss, even if it was the last thing she did.

Santana came back in from the kitchen with another mug of tea, and set it down on the table. She did a doubletake as she noticed the mug in Brittany's hands, but shrugged and stood beside the couch for a second, as if she were unsure what to do.

"Come sit down with me." Brittany said innocently, patting the couch beside her.

Santana stood for a moment longer, balancing on one foot and then the other, before stepping back and sitting on the couch across from Brittany.

"I, um, I'm a little hot, and there's a bit of a breeze over here."

Santana could have sworn that she saw a sad look flash over Brittany's features, but after a moment, it was gone, so she tried to focus on the problem at hand.

"We have to figure out a way to get you out of regionals and to the mathletes thing, without Sue noticing."

Brittany looked surprised. "You'd do that?"

"Well, I'm not crazy about the whole math competition thing,but it's obviously very important to you, and if I leave it to you, you could mess it up, and then we'll both get kicked out of the Cheerios."

"Why would Sue do that? You haven't done anything wrong."

"Because I know about it. The fact that I haven't thrown you out of the house and called Sue immediately is enough to prove to her that I'm a traitor. The damage is done."

Brittany was on her feet quickly. "Then, I've gotta get out of here, Santana. I can't let you give up the Cheerios for me! It's too dangerous-"

Santana rounded the coffee table, taking the mug from Brittany's hands, and sitting it down on the table. She then gently pushed Brittany back to the couch, and began tucking the blanket around her again. Brittany had to keep herself from swooning at the care Santana had taken with her. Santana wasn't smiling, but the focused grimace on her face deepened the dimple on her cheek. It took all of Brittany's will not to lean over and kiss it. Santana leaned back and sat down across from her on the table when she'd finished.

"I'd rather you came to me than someone who wouldn't know what Sue can do with a cheese grater and four minutes in a locked broom closet, Britt. Besides, this isn't the end all be all. Even if we sucked at the regionals, though with me there, it's not even a remote possibility, but even if we did suck, based on Sue's reputation alone we'd make it to nationals. It's just a formality. But it matters to Sue, and she will end anybody who screws with it."

Brittany bit her lip. "But you still think I can go?"

Santana had to blink a few times before her brain stopped playing the image of Brittany's teeth tugging on her lip over and over in slow motion in her head.

"No, I'm sure you can. We've just gotta figure a way around it. We've got to get Sue's attention and keep it, and just, you know, misdirect her a bit."

"But how?"

"I dunno. I'll have to think about it. I'm sure I can come up with something. Tell Mrs. Griffin that you'll be at the competition, but not to tell anybody else until you've cleared it with Sue. Then tomorrow we'll talk, and I'll tell you the plan."

"What if you don't come up with anything?"

Santana raised an eyebrow. "Brittany, I am the person who figured out the way to get the President to consider an executive order to stop Rachel from singing. I think I can come up with something for this."

Brittany nodded. She hadn't been personally involved in that incident, they were in middle school at the time, but she'd heard about it on the local news. If she had known Rachel back then, and been old enough to vote, she probably would have supported the legislation.

Another thought occurred to Brittany. "You're not doing this all as a gag, are you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you tell me to tell Mrs. Griffin, and then at the last minute you bail on me, and leave me to face Sue alone? Like some sort of elaborate revenge plot?"

Santana was hurt, but she tried not to show it. "Look, I made a promise to try more, didn't I? And you haven't covered me in grease, or taped all of my school books to the ceiling in three weeks. So, what would I have to take revenge on your for?"

Brittany looked down and shrugged uncomfortably.

"I know we don't know each other well, Britt, and maybe that's a little bit my fault, and maybe it's a little bit yours, but all I know is that I'm a Lopez, and when I make my word, I keep it. Okay? I don't break my word."

Brittany perked up a little and smiled softly.

"I promise you that I'm going to help you figure this out, and I will. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Besides. Sue's going to kick my ass if you don't show up either way. So, I might as well make sure that it's for a good enough reason."

"Thank you, Santana. And I'm really sorry for all the shitty stuff I did to you over the years."

"Yeah, me too, Brittany. Except for the honey tornado. That was amazing."

Brittany sat back wistfully. "Yeah, that was pretty epic."

They sat in silence for a few moments, though the silence never became uncomfortable, like it might have been only a week or so before. Suddenly, Santana turned to her.

"Is it too late for you to be out? Maybe your parents want you home?"

Brittany shook her head. "Nope, I told them I was going out with Mercedes. They don't expect me back for a couple of hours."

"How about, um, maybe we could watch a movie or something?"

"Santana Lopez, did you just invite me to Netflix and chill?"

Santana giggled nervously, and then jogged out to the hallway, depositing their flour baby on the coffee table.

"There. She's a witness to make sure that everything is above board."

Brittany could only laugh, and she nodded as Santana reached for the remote. "Fine. But let's watch something scary. I want to get my mind off of this."

Santana gave a nervous laugh and flipped through the channels. "Sure, ok."

\

As the middle of the week rolled around, Santana was pretty much exhausted. She and Brittany had spent the entire time trying to come up with a plan for Brittany's problem, not to mention all the time Santana had to spend with her other work, Cheerios and the health class project. She and Brittany had spent even more time together, and Santana had driven the both of them to each other's house almost every night. After they'd finished their homework, and taken what seemed like a million pictures of the two of them and the flour baby, they'd watch movies, or surf the net together. Santana was finding out even more about Brittany. Things that weren't related to how she wanted to raise 'their' baby, but things about the girl herself. Like how she liked her coffee (no cream and lots of sugar), what she wore when she went to sleep (a pair of way too sexy sleep shorts and an oversized duck shirt), and her favorite genre of horror movie. Take for example the night before, when she'd stayed up way too late with Brittany watching scary movies. Horror was pretty much her least favorite genre, but she didn't want to tell Brittany that. The only indication she wasn't a fan was when she'd spent most of the evening hiding under the blanket the two of them had been sharing.

To be fair, Santana wasn't exactly sure how she'd ended back on her couch, in an empty house with Brittany beside her. She hadn't planned on it, but her parents had wanted to take Selena to the new Pixar movie, and she'd decided to stay at home. And then she'd wondered what Brittany was up to. Before she knew it, she was inviting Brittany over, and they were in almost the same positions as Sunday night, sharing a couch while a movie played in the background. At first, she'd determined that she'd stay as far as Brittany as possible. There was no denying it. The kiss-that-almost-was was definitely still fresh in her mind. Santana wasn't even sure where that had come from. One minute they had been sharing a nice, normal moment, and the next she had been leaning into the inevitable. In the end, she was glad they hadn't kissed after all. Things were already getting more complicated than she could have anticipated. She wasn't quite sure why she'd volunteered to help Brittany. She hadn't been lying when she'd suggested that Sue wouldn't take kindly to being deceived. But, the simplest way around that would be to not say anything to Sue, and she'd never know. It's not like Brittany would tell her. A part of her wanted to believe that having Brittany owe her one might come in handy in the future. That she could use this little exercise as a way to gain some leverage in some way. But that voice in the back of her head, the one that was always telling her the truth, knew that wasn't it. She wanted to help Brittany simply because she'd wanted to. She'd seen her walking up her driveway, tears shining on her face, her lip curled into that adorable little pout; and a piece of her heart had broken. She'd gotten to know Brittany over the course of their project, and somehow, inexplicably, she'd come to care about her. That was even separate from the tingling she felt in the pit of her stomach when Brittany looked at her a little too long, or when, as she noticed as the night wore on, they sat in close proximity, and Brittany's legs kept brushing against hers.

For her part, Santana kept trying to move away. She'd feel Brittany's skin on her own, and would try and try to limit the contact, but it wouldn't last for long, and after a few minutes, Brittany would be pressed up against her again. Finally, once Santana was practically hanging over the arm of the chair, Brittany had just given up all pretext, and swung her body longways across the couch, draping her legs over Santana's lap. They had finished the movie like that, and in the end, Santana had even managed to seem the least bit casual about the situation. Of course, inside, she was a boiling mess.

There was no way that Brittany didn't know what she was doing. At least, Santana didn't think so. There were certain parts of Brittany that were more innocent than others, and Santana had seen her being touchy feely with her friends; hanging off of Mercedes, sitting in Artie's lap, and dancing around with Tina. She'd seen all these things because over the past couple of days, she'd been searching out Brittany more in places where she knew that she would be. Classrooms where Santana knew she'd be, out on the grassy area beside the gym, the cafeteria, right before and after Cheerios practice. She tried to be subtle about it, and the few times that she was caught by her friends, she was able to blame it on her hatred of Brittany, or simply cover up with a lie. But she didn't expect that to last forever, and she wasn't sure how she wanted to do it. How do you tell the people who've been in your corner for more than two years that, just kidding, I guess I don't hate her so much after all?

The next day, at school, Santana could feel the stresses of the week finally catching up with her. Between trying to not think dirty thoughts about Brittany, and then definitely thinking dirty thoughts about Brittany, she'd tossed and turned half the night. Now, in class, Santana felt herself nodding off, and had pretty much given up trying to pay closer attention. Luckily for her, she was in Spanish class. It was a requirement for graduation, but Santana was sure she spoke the language better as a two year old than her brillo haired loser of a teacher ever could. Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she stealthily pulled it out and took a peek.

 **Blonde Cheerleader: Myrtle**

Santana smiled and then looked around to make sure no one noticed. Brittany had been texting her all week names for their baby. At that point she hadn't bothered to shoot any of them down outright, but rather would come up with a more creative response.

 **S. Lopez: Like Moaning Myrtle? B, we can't have the other flour kids moaning at her every time she comes into the room.**

 **Blonde Cheerleader: I hadn't thought of that. :/**

 **S. Lopez: Don't worry, I'm sure you'll come up with something.**

"Perdone me, Santana. I didn't mean to interrupt your important text conversation."

Her Spanish teacher, Mr. Schuester (yes, the loser from the Glee club), smiled glibly at her.

"As if I would ever pay attention enough for you to interrupt me." Santana mumbled in perfect Spanish.

"Repeate?"

"Oh, nothing. Lo siento, Senor Schuester."

She normally would have given him a biting remark, to remind him who was really in charge in that classroom, but didn't. This was partly because of her promise to Brittany, and partly because she couldn't be bothered. Ever since she'd stopped going after people, the desire to insult definitely had faded a bit. That's not to say that if someone came for her, she couldn't clap back, but the thrill of making a teacher have to take a mental health break just for the heck of it had lost of some of its charm. So, she let him move on with the lesson, and put her phone back into her pocket, continuing her in depth study of the ceiling.

She'd been thinking more and more about her plan with Brittany, and she hadn't been able to come up with anything. This was a first for her. She normally was bursting to the seams with great ideas about how to make people do exactly what she wanted. That's how she'd been so successful with her bid against Brittany. But now none of her plans had the bite they'd once had and she felt that Brittany had something to do with it. Santana didn't want anyone to think she had gotten soft, but she found that not being a gigantic dick to everyone all the time had softened her edges a bit. She'd even gone two whole days without punching Puck in the stomach, which was really an all time high for her.

Her phone buzzed again, and she couldn't help but pull it a little out of her pocket.

 **Blonde Cheerleader: Kelly?**

The bell rang, and Santana watched with some satisfaction as Will tried to wrangle the class into a few more moments of attention. He couldn't, of course, and so was left yelling as the class dispersed. A voice was at her elbow as she was typing a response to Brittany.

"So, chatting with Quinn a lot lately, huh?"

Santana turned and looked guiltily at Mike, who raised an eyebrow as got up from his desk beside her.

"What are you on about, Chang?"

"Blonde Cheerleader? You've been texting her nonstop all week. Don't think I haven't noticed."

Santana shoved her phone in her pocket, and grabbed her bookbag, pushing past Mike. "It's not like that, Mike, don't get any weird ideas. We're just working on a routine for Coach."

"Yeah right, Lopez."

"You don't believe me?"

"You've never had any expression on your face when interacting with Quinn that wasn't, 'kill me, immediately.' There's no way that the dumb ass grin you were sporting was from talking to Quinn."

"Like, you'd know."

"I do know. We've known each other since kindergarten, Santana. I've been your best friend since second grade. I'm the first person you told you were gay. You came and cried in my garage when your girlfriend in middle school broke up with you because your head was shaped funny, and I was the first person to watch you get drunk on wine coolers. Don't tell me that you are chatting with Quinn, cause that's just not true. Something has changed about you, something big, and I wanna know what."

Mike's voice had taken a hard edge that Santana didn't like, and as they walked down the hall to her locker, she realized she was a little miffed.

"What about you?"

"Me?"

"Yeah, you, Mike. Don't think I haven't noticed you skulking around, and being all sneaky. I called your house the other night, and your parents said you were out with a friend, but I texted you later and you said you were home all day studying. Since when have you started lying to me?"

"Santana-"

"No, you be straight with me, and I'll be straight with you. That's how we've always played it. Why should now be any different?"

"You tell me."

They were staring at each other, each daring the other person to back down, but neither would give an inch. Mike was used to Santana's attitude, and didn't seem worried about the scene they were making in the hallway. Santana knew that she was lying to Mike, but him lying to her made it even worse. Mike was someone who she would have jumped off a building for. She loved him, and thought she could always trust him, but if there was something he wasn't telling her. It burned her up inside. She tried not to think about the hypocrisy of the situation and turned her back to him, slamming her locker shut.

"I'm done talking about it, Mike. You give me a call when you're ready to act like my friend again."

She turned to walk away, but Mike was around her in a second, blocking her path.

"Get out of my way, Chang."

"Or what, Santana? You'll hit me in the face with your phone?"

"I'm warning you-"

"Santana, I'm sick of this! You call me out, and then won't let me call you out? We're supposed to be friends. I figured I'd be the only person on this school you wouldn't turn on."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"It means you've been blowing us all off for a month, disappearing, hanging out at your house, or doing who knows what with who knows who. Puck says if he's not in class, he doesn't see you, and the same goes for Finn, Rachel, everybody. And now you're acting like I'm a firing squad or something. Like, I'm out to get you. Like I'm Brittany!"

"Oh please."

"Tell me I'm wrong."

"I won't even dignify that with a response."

"Well, I guess not, then. Look, Santana. You're my best friend, okay? I don't want to lose you, but that doesn't mean that you can't lose me. Figure out what you want to do, let me know."

Mike turned and walked sadly down the hall.

Santana wanted to call out or run after him, but the anger that she felt in the pit of her stomach was too red hot to ignore. How dare he come at her like that? After all they had been through? He'd done stuff for her, but it wasn't a one sided proposition. Santana had also held his hand when his first girlfriend had dumped him, too. She had helped out in his family's shop when they were short staffed. She had come over to his house on Saturday nights when he had to babysit his little sister, and entertained them both with impromptu karaoke and games.

Santana could feel the tears burning in her eyes as she stormed blindly down the hallway. She wasn't sure where she was going until she stumbled into the Cheerios' locker room, and collapsed on a bench there. She took a few moments trying to fight the tears, but found it easier to just succumb to them, sliding off the bench, pulling her knees to her chest, and sobbing into the fabric of her uniform.

She hated herself for the pathetic way that she'd let Mike get to her, but she'd felt a little ambushed. She'd been having a perfectly pleasant day, and he'd come out of the blue to ruin it. She broke out in a fresh round of tears, and buried her face in her knees. If all her friends thought she'd pulled away from them, why didn't they say anything now? They acted as though they'd been telling her for weeks, and finally reached the end of their ropes, but this was the first she was hearing about it.

"To hell with them." She sniffed, rubbing a sleeve across her face.

There was only one person that she even remotely wanted to talk to at the moment, and it wasn't Mike, or Puck or Quinn. Suddenly, she'd heard the creak of the gym door opening, and she rushed to wipe the tears from her face, and straighten herself up. She was still Santana Lopez. She had a reputation to maintain.

The steps came closer, and Santana tried to sit up on the bench that she was sunk down beside. Then, a cautious face peeked into view.

"I heard you two arguing all the way down the hall, and I followed you. If that's okay."

Santana's face crumpled again, and she gave up trying to get up, breaking into a new round of sobs.

"Oh, San." Brittany murmured, racing over to Santana, and gathering her up in her arms.

Santana gave up trying to keep on a brave front, and only holding onto Brittany as if she were the only thing keeping her tethered to the ground.

"He totally bailed on me!" Santana sobbed. "I mean, he just was acting like a total dick, and I hadn't even done anything!"

Brittany rocked Santana gently, and whispered encouraging words into her ear until her crying died off, and she was able to speak without breaking into a round of fresh tears. They sat like that through the next bell and far into class. Brittany wasn't worried about anyone interrupting them in the middle of the day. The locker room they were in was for Cheerios only, and no one would be caught there skipping class. Well, no one but them, of course.

Even after Santana caught her breath, Brittany held her closely for a few more moments, not quite wanting to let go. The two girls sat side by side on the floor of the locker room. Santana was turned fully towards Brittany's buried in her side, head resting on her shoulder. She had both arms draped around Brittany, who had her arms wrapped around Santana's waist. They couldn't have been any closer together, but all Brittany could think is that she'd never been emotionally closer to Santana than she was right then. She used to imagine Santana as some unstoppable Terminator. She wouldn't rest, wouldn't stop until she'd made Brittany's life a living hell. But that vulnerability that Brittany sometimes saw, that softness, it was real. And now, holding Santana, shivering, in her arms, Brittany could see that more clearly than ever. She wanted to go find Mike and punch him right in the nose. She didn't want to do anything more than take care of Santana for as long as she could.

Brittany sighed, while rubbing a gentle hand up and down Santana's side.

"Once Mercedes and I didn't talk to each other for eight days."

Santana didn't respond, but a slight shift of her head told Brittany that she was listening.

"Freshmen year. Another friend of ours, Dave, invited us out to the campgrounds for an overnight thing. I didn't tell Mercedes until the last minute, she thought she was coming over for a sleepover at my place. I carted her out to the woods, and when her parents called my house looking for her, they were furious."

She kneaded Santana's skin softly, trying to soothe her with a touch, just in case her words failed.

"She was mad at me, of course, and I was convinced I was doing the right thing, because it was going to be our first great adventure as high school students. Of course, Mercedes was as much a straight arrow as she is now, so that did not go over well."

Brittany chuckled a bit before she continued.

"We were both hard headed that we went the longest time of our friendship not speaking to each other. Eight days! Which in high school years, is clearly an eternity."

Her voice became a little sad.

"Then out of the blue she called me. I tried to be cool, but she had been crying. Her grandmother had passed away, and they were going out of town for the funeral. But she'd wanted to call me before she left. It was like a light went off in my head. It's then I realized that I didn't want to lose my best friend over something silly. The first person she thought to call when she was in trouble was me. Even with our fight, and my hard headedness. None of that mattered. We are there for each other, no matter what. I've known Mercedes for almost as much as you've known Mike, and she means just as much to me. I just know that if push comes to shove, even if I don't understand everything that's going on, I know that I trust my friend. Sometimes that's all you can do, Santana."

"So, what?" Santana said, sniffing loudly and sitting up, pushing herself away from Brittany. "I should apologize to him?"

Brittany laughed again. "Knowing Mike, you won't have to. He's a great guy, and even I can see how much he cares about you. And how much you care about him. You probably won't need all the words, just feel it out."

"Well, I don't know if that'll be happening any time soon."

Brittany shrugged. "Well, I don't mind having you to myself for a little while."

Santana turned to her, a little shocked, but with a small smile playing at her lips.

Brittany only winked and stood up, reaching a hand down for Santana, and then pulling her to her feet.

"We should probably get to class. We're already super late."

Santana looked bashful, and stared down at her shoes.

"Maybe we can stay here until the next period? We're already really late, and we can always say we had something to do for Sue."

Brittany grinned. It wasn't an excuse that they could use often because Sue definitely would rather they attend class. But no one would question Sue's Cheerios for too long. Not unless they wanted the scorn of Sue, and the threat of a lawsuit.

"Okay, just this once, I guess."

She plopped down on the bench, and patted the seat beside her. Santana joined her, and leaned a bit against her side.

Brittany sighed deeply. "This is nice."

Santana nodded. "Yeah. Nice."

They chatted for a while, and waited for the bell to ring.


	4. Chapter 4

_Author's Note: I've changed the character of Frances (an OC) to Jane (Hayworth), just because she really fit, and also, Jane was my fave of the S6 newbies (a fact that you'll know because I include her in most of my fics, along with the originals. This has been updated across the fics, and won't change the story in any significant way. Thanks for reading!_

* * *

Being the co-captains of the Cheerios meant that Santana and Brittany had a lot of extra responsibilities. For one, they had to make sure that the locker room was in good order at the end of every day, which meant that they had to stay late. Usually, this involved Santana yelling at underclassmen to get their 'butts in gear', but today she was in no mood to rush. So far, she'd had no luck in coming up with a plan for getting Brittany to her math competition, and keeping them both out of the gulag.

She was lost in her thoughts, and vaguely wondering where Brittany was (a state she seemed to be in more and more these days), when she heard shouting coming from the showers.

"I told you! This is a PUBLIC shower."

"Are you kidding? Wait until Sue finds you in here, then you're dead!"

"I'm not afraid of Sue."

Santana frowned. She wasn't sure she'd ever heard anyone who'd met Sue say that sentence before. She got up and walked towards the showers, nearly bumping into a girl in a swimsuit and goggles. She was staring down Quinn, who was wrapped in a towel and angrily pointing at the other girl.

"Santana, isn't it your job to deal with this? Get her out of here."

"Oh yeah? This skinny bitch is going to do anything about it? I could give a flying flip about Santana Lopez."

Santana gave the girl a hard stare. "What the hell? This is the Cheerios' locker room, Flipper. Take your hairless ass back to the regular showers."

The girl was probably a sophomore. She didn't look like fresh meat, but Santana had never seen her before. She had gumption, she'd have to give her that. She didn't back down, but advanced on Santana.

"There was a line rupture or something. And the main broke. There's no water in there and chlorine makes my hair dry out so we're using your showers."

She said it with a finality that brought a gasp from the other Cheerios. The girl was backed up by several of her swim teammates and they all shared a satisfied look on their faces as the girl made to brush past Santana.

"So, if you'll excuse me."

Santana gave a small grin as the girl walked past and in one fluid motion reached up and grabbed the ponytail that was hanging out of the girl's swimming cap.

The girl howled in pain as Santana used her other hand to grab the back of her swimsuit and drag her towards the locker room doors. One of her Cheerios ran towards the door, holding it open and Santana used the forward momentum to swing the girl out of the door, and into the hallway. She landed with a crash and kept on yelling.

Santana turned, barely breathing hard from the effort and brushed her hands together.

"Who's next?"

The other swimmers looked nervously at one another and edged out the door, shrieking when Santana made a move towards them. After a few moments there was a new cacophony in the hallway.

"She is the captain of my team, Sue, and you don't own these locker rooms."

Santana peeked out and saw Roz and Sue standing almost nose to nose in the hallway. The swimmers were holding up the girl Santana had thrown out and she still looked like she was in bad shape.

"How about this, Roz. You let me know when you win a national championship, and then call me when you win five more and I'll consider it."

Roz looked like she wanted to argue, but after a moment turned her back on Sue and skulked down the hall.

"Come on girls." She said over her shoulder.

Sue turned back towards her office without another word. Santana wasn't surprised. Sue had always hated Roz and-

Suddenly an idea popped into her head. It wasn't the best thing she'd ever thought of. That title belong to the idea that had almost gotten Brittany deported to the Netherlands, but this one wasn't far behind. And now that she was using her powers for good, instead of evil, she had the chance to help someone she really cared about.

"That was pretty hot." Said a voice at her elbow.

Santana jumped. "Brittany!"

She turned and Brittany was right in front of her. The commotion had cleared out the locker rooms and it seemed like they were the only two left.

"The way you threw that girl. Very nice form."

Santana tried not to look too embarrassed, and she made a muscle.

"I don't spend all that time on the pyramid for nothing."

Brittany reached up, gripping Santana's bicep tightly and running a single finger towards her shoulder. The movement made Santana's breath hitch. Which was what Brittany had hoped for, of course.

"I can tell." She purred, continuing her finger's trail down Santana's shoulder, between her breasts and down her stomach. Santana's breath hitched again.

Santana took a step back, bumping into a locker behind her. All of the bravado that had carried the day when she threw the girl out of the locker room disappeared, and she felt suddenly nervous. There was something predatory in the toothy grin that Brittany was sending her way, so she turned, moving towards her locker, shuffling through the things inside, and chattering away.

"I've come up with an idea that might work for Saturday."

Brittany's demeanor changed immediately, and she practically skipped over to Santana's locker, leaning against the side. "Really? I knew you'd come up with something, Santana. What is it?"

"Well, it won't be easy. And we'll need some help, but I think we still have a couple people we can count on."

There was a bitter note in her voice, and Brittany frowned. Had Santana still not talked to Mike? She made a mental note to look into it later. She wasn't sure what she could do to help, but she figured she probably couldn't make the situation any worse.

"We can ask Jane! Depending on what you want to do." Brittany volunteered.

The question was evident on Santana's face. "Who?"

Brittany had a feeling Santana knew exactly she was talking about. They hadn't spent any time talking about Jane, but had both found their own ways to make her feel more welcome in the squad. Santana would rather have someone think she was being mean than show her squishy center. Brittany knew that Santana liked Jane as much as she did, but didn't want her feeling self conscious. She played along.

"She's the Cheerio we ran with a couple of times. I think she's a cool kid."

Santana thought for a moment. "Maybe, that could be good. Yeah, actually that will be perfect. Why didn't I think of that? See, this is why we work well together. You handle all of the mushy people stuff, and I get to do all the betrayal."

Brittany looked proud for a moment and then frowned. "There's going to be betrayal?"

"Well, only a bit. Just enough to grease the wheels."

Brittany didn't look convinced, but Santana slammed her locker closed and grabbed her duffle. "Let's go, we'll talk about it on the way home."

It didn't take Santana very long to lay out her plan for Brittany, and once it was done, it all made perfect sense. For the most part.

"We'll work out the kinks this week." Santana said reassuringly. "Now that you know what we have to do, you can try to think of any holes in the plan. We are two of McKinley High's most devious minds. There's no way we can't craft this into perfection."

Brittany nodded from her place in the passenger seat, as they sat parked in front of Santana's house. They were hanging out in Santana's car mostly to stay away from the prying eyes of Brittany's siblings, but also her parents. Whitney and Pierce still weren't quite used to Santana being around, and weren't used to the idea of not having to protect Brittany from her.

But in the car they felt safe. At least until Mr. and Mrs. Pierce started peeking out of the front windows, trying their best to be inconspicuous. But that hadn't happened yet, so Santana and Brittany sat for few minutes in silence, listening to the low thrum of Toni Braxton playing through Santana's iPod. Their flour baby sat on the dash, turned towards the windshield so she could, according to Brittany, see everything that was going on. They were both lost in their own thoughts, thinking about their role in what would happen, and how perfect everything would have to go for them to get away with it. Only a few things were left up to chance, but that was true of any great plan.

Brittany had pulled Santana's hand in her lap, using her hands to curl and uncurl the other girl's fingers. It was strangely intimate, and Santana had pulled her hand back twice only to have Brittany grab it again, so she'd given up, and had fallen into a sort of rhythm that relaxed her.

Brittany stopped suddenly. "Are we still not telling anybody about us?"

Santana froze, her fingers in Brittany's lap curling into a fist. "Huh?"

"Are we still not telling people about us? You and me, I mean."

Santana balked. "W-wwhat do you mean, us?"

"I mean, you and me, not being mortal enemies anymore, just being, like, friends."

"Oh, huh. Friends?" Her fingers unfurled a bit. "Yeah, good question. I guess I hadn't thought about it, really."

"If you'd rather not tell anyone-"

"No! That's not it, of course. I want to tell people. I just think it'll be kind of, I dunno, shocking, you know? We've been at each other's throats for so long, it's going to be weird when we're not."

"It's just that I don't like lying to Mercedes."

Santana smiled grimly. "Yeah. Mike knew something was up, and I didn't tell him. I'm such an ass. Though, there's something he's not telling me either. He just thinks I'm too distracted to notice."

Brittany nodded. "So, what if we just told them? Our best friends. No one else would have to know."

"Maybe we should wait. I mean, at least until after Saturday. There's a lot riding on all of this, and I don't want any distractions."

"That makes sense. I guess you're right."

Brittany resumed playing with Santana's fingers. "Thanks again, Santana. For everything. For helping me, and, you know, everything."

Santana only grunted. There was a distant look in Brittany's eyes, and she couldn't take her eyes away from the image of her hands, a deep honey brown, tangled in Brittany's pale, pink ones.

"Santana?"

"Hmm?"

"How did you first knew that you liked girls?"

There was a buzzing underneath Santana's skin, and she tried to keep her voice steady as she replied. "I dunno. I just always noticed ladies, and thought about them the way you think about guys."

Brittany smiled, and gave a sideways glance to Santana. "How do you know I only think about guys?"

There was a pause, and Santana was sure Brittany could hear her gulp as she tried to come up with a response.

"Well, I know you went out with that wide receiver last year... "

"And the captain of the girl's soccer team before that." Brittany finished for her.

Santana blanched. She'd heard the rumours, but, at the time, wasn't sure if she believed them. "So, what? You're-"

"I see what I want, and I go after it."

Brittany's voice was a low husk, and Santana sneaked a look at her, and couldn't help but meet her eye. She was looking directly at Santana, her blue eyes growing dark in the low light of the car. And now she was leaning forward. Santana swallowed again.

"I wanted to dance, and I danced. I wanted to be the best Cheerio I could be, and I did that. I wanted to be captain of the math team-"

Santana licked her lips, unconsciously. "And what do you want now, Britt?"

There was a pause as Brittany pulled on Santana's wrist. Santana watched her bite her lip in anticipation.

"Now, I want-"

"Brittany!"

There was a thud as two small hands slapped on Santana's passenger side windows. It took all of Santana's willpower to slide her eyes away from Brittany, and look to see the little Pierce leaning up against the car, staring in.

"Momma says you should bring your friend in, or let her go home cause you can't stay out in the car all night!"

Brittany rolled down the window. "Belle, sweetie, try to keep from leaving handprints all over the windows."

Santana pulled her hand gingerly out of Brittany's lap. "Oh, it's okay, she was just, um, trying to get our attention. I should probably go home anyway. We're supposed to be doing some family game night or something."

"Oh, okay." The disappointment was clear in Brittany's voice, but she put on a smile. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

Santana started up her car, and Brittany got out, grabbing her book bag out of the backseat and leaning down through the open window.

Santana swept the flour baby into her arms and placed her in the vacated passenger seat, making sure to buckle her in.

"Yeah, tomorrow. Actually, Britt…"

Santana paused.

"Yeah, San?"

"Maybe I'll come and pick you up tomorrow? Since it's the last day of the project with the baby. It's kind of a special occasion."

Brittany brightened considerably, and her smile turned more genuine. "Roz is going to be ticked that we never came up with a name. Well, technically, you never came up with a name."

"Me?" Santana responded, laughing.

"Yeah you. I came up with a million names, and you shot them all down."

There was no edge in her voice, and Santana smiled even wider.

"Well, I can't help it that I've known a lot of stupid bitches in my life. I don't want our daughter having all that baggage."

Brittany tried to not let her heart jump out of her chest at the sound of Santana calling her 'our daughter' and put on her best cheeky grin. "Well, we should come up with something."

"I'll leave it up to you, Britt. I'm sure whatever you name her will be great."

There was a pause as the two tried to come up with a way to make the moment last longer. When there was none Santana gave a small wave.

"I guess I'd better get going. Don't want to piss off the parents."

"Yeah."

"I'll see you tomorrow. I'll text you when I'm leaving my house."

"Yeah. See you, Santana."

"Bye Brittany."

Brittany watched Santana drive away and her little sister ran back up to her, grabbing her hand and dragging her inside.

"Britt! Can you read to me tonight?"

Brittany smiled at Belle. "Sure, honey, but first I've got to finish my homework."

Belle sighed. "Fine. You would have finished already if you weren't looking at Santana all the time."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean every time I see you with her. You're always looking at her. It's kind of gross, Britt."

"You're just mad because you have a crush on her."

"Do not!"

Brittany smiled at her younger sister and stuck out her tongue.

"Anyway, if you like her it's okay, Britt."

"Really?"

"Yeah, she's nice and she brought us Skittles that one time."

"Well, I'm glad you approve."

They were in the house, and Brittany swatted at her sister's backside.

"Go brush your teeth and get ready for bed and I'll come up when you're all tucked in."

Belle laughed excitedly and rushed up the stairs, two at a time. She'd luckily inherited her height from her mom's side of the family, and looked like she'd be as tall as Brittany, all told. Brittany dropped her bookbag by the steps, and went into the kitchen to grab a snack. She could hear her parents wrangling with her siblings upstairs and hoped they weren't having too much of a problem. She was enjoying a banana when her phone buzzed in her pocket.

 **Baby Mama: Ginger**

Brittany smiled, and typed back a reply.

 **B. Pierce: Like Ginger Rogers? Isn't that a bit obvious, Santana?**

There was a pause, and then three small dots told Brittany that Santana was typing a reply.

 **Baby Mama: Haha, I guess you're right. Back to the drawing board.**

 **B. Pierce: I guess so. :P**

Footsteps sounded behind Brittany and before she had a chance to turn around, she heard a body sink down in a kitchen chair.

"A little late getting home today, Britt?" Her mother asked, sighing as she wrung the bath water out of her shirt.

"Yeah, sorry about that, Mom. I was a bit busy."

"Hanging out with Santana again?" Her mother's face scrunched into a frown, and Brittany walked over to her, desperate to smooth it away.

"It's not like that, Mom. She's cool."

"Brittany, she stuck you to a chicken."

"And I got her left at a farm. We've both done things to each other that we regret. But, that doesn't mean we can't put the past behind us."

Whitney Pierce sighed, and rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands. "It's not that I don't appreciate this new mature attitude, Britt, but I worry. She is not harmless. We learned that the hard way. And you've been spending a lot of time with her, and I can tell that you're developing feelings-"

"Oh mom, you sound like Belle."

"Oh? And what did my very astute daughter have to say about your relationship?"

"Well…" Brittany began, pulling out a chair and sitting down. "She said that I look at her all the time, so I must be getting a crush on her."

"Did she mention that you talk about her all the time?"

Brittany hesitated. "No, um, not really."

"Well, you do." Her mother said, gently. "It's always 'Santana said this', or 'Santana did that'. Look, I don't mind you liking someone, Brittany. And you know, boy or girl all I care about is that the person makes you happy. You know that. But, this isn't that nice girl you dated last year from dance camp. This is Santana Lopez. I would have thought she rose up from hell if I didn't see the birth announcements Maribel and Antony sent out when she was born. She's trouble."

Brittany shook her head. "You don't understand her like I do, Mom."

"Well, make me understand. What do you see in her?"

"She-she's kind! I mean, not right away, but one time we were in the park and she found this nest of baby birds and she called the vet to find out what to do with it. And she always helps her little sister practice the piano. She works hard. Her grades are so good, way better than mine. And she loves being on the Cheerios, even if she doesn't always show it. She's really sweet to me, and always makes sure that I'm comfortable. She's polite to you and dad-"

"That's more of a recent development."

"I dunno. I like her. At first I just thought I wanted to kiss her, but now I know it's more than that. I think I really like her."

Whitney sighed. "It's up to you, Brittany. Just be careful, okay? Remember that your father and I love you, and we only want what's best for you. You can always come to us if you need anything. Or Mercedes, I trust her too. I trust the both of you, just… Just be careful."

Brittany nodded. "I will, Mom, but you don't have anything to worry about."

"I hope not."

Brittany stood, placing a kiss on her mother's cheek. "I'm off to read a story to Belle. 'Night, Mom."

"Goodnight, Britt."

\

"So, hanging out with Pierce lately, huh? What's up with that?"

Santana looked up at the purring voice that spoke to her as she dug through the contents of her locker. She had been thinking about loose ends to her plan all day, and considering the competition was the day after tomorrow, she had a lot on her plate. The last thing she needed was Quinn getting all up into her business.

She looked up and tried to play it cool. "Not really."

"Oh please, Lopez. I saw her getting out of your car the other morning, and Dave told Blaine who told Tina that she saw you two at the mall the other day. Tina didn't believe them, but I know for a fact there's something going on with the two of you."

Santana pulled her flour baby out of the locker, and slammed the door shut. Brittany had put some ridiculous pair of overalls on her, and squeezed a beanie over her 'head' ("So, she won't get cold, San). Santana tried not to think about how silly she looked as she turned to glare at Quinn.

"Since when are you listening to Girl Chang? She's a gossip monger at best, and a liar at worst. If she told me that it was sunny outside, I'd go out in my galoshes. The girl is a mess."

"So, you're telling me you didn't give her a ride the other day? Cause I'm pretty sure she's the only person in school that wears a duck themed jacket over her Cheerios uniform."

Santana looked around quickly, and seeing no one was watching her, hissed to Quinn. "Fine. Is that what you want to hear? I gave her a ride."

Quinn stuck her arm on her hip and cocked her head to the side. "The question is, why?"

"Because, Fabray, we're working together on Roz's stupid flour baby project, and I tried to get another partner, but it was too late, so now I'm dealing with it."

"And that's it, huh? The greatest of McKinley feuds is put to rest because of a stupid flour baby?"

Santana protectively turned the baby away from Quinn, wrapping her arms around her.

"She's not stupid. I mean- What I mean is, it's a project, and that's all. We have to work together for Roz, and once it's over, it's over."

"So, you two are not going to be sitting around a campfire, singing kumbaya anytime soon?"

Santana scoffed. "Please, Fabray, do I look like the type?"

There was another pause as Quinn looked her up and down. "So what is the plan?"

"There is none."

The answer was definitive.

"Come on. Are you telling me that you are just going to start working this project with Brittany, for a month, take care of your little abomination here, and then call it a day, without one single act of petty revenge or retribution?"

"Look." Said Santana, levelling her gaze at Quinn. "I just want to get through this project. No mind games, no elaborate ruses, no lies. Nothing. Just me and the A I so richly deserve."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

"So, you don't have any gentle feelings creeping up on you regarding, one, Brittany S. Pierce."

Santana shook her head as the bell rang. "I've got to get to class, Q. I'll see you at practice this afternoon.

"Yeah, see you around."

Quinn smiled to herself, as she watched Santana walk away.

"So, by now, most of you have heard about the JBL incident."

Coach Roz's voice carried over the classroom, bringing an end to side conversations, and generally quieting the din that was still in full effect as her class got settled in their seats.

Everyone looked at Jacob, who was sitting next to his partner, Lauren, and who smiled meekly.

"Well, because he is clearly dumb as hell, we're going to have to push back the project a week. That means that you all are going to be responsible for your babies a bit longer."

The entire class groaned, some of them even going so far as to throw balled up pieces of paper and thumb tacks at Jacob.

"Thank you, fellow students for shouldering this responsibility with me."

"Shut up, Jacob. If my grade goes down because of this, it's going to be on you." Their classmate Sam shouted out.

Brittany crossed her arms, and glared at Sam. "It's not his fault. Well, it is, but it's a lot of pressure to get everything done and-"

"What would you call it, then? Look, Britt, I get that you have a soft spot for any poor souls that come your way, but this guy is a lost cause. Now I'm stuck with this stupid baby for another week- Ouch!"

Sam was broken off by Santana who'd leaned forward and thumped him in the back of the head.

"Can it, Trouty mouth."

Sam pulled his larger than average lips into his mouth. "What's it to you, Santana? It's none of your business."

"Well, I'm making it my business, and I'm telling you to lay off."

"Since when are you defending Brittany?"

"Since now. Do you want to make this a thing, Evans? Cause I'd love to make it a thing."

Sam spent a few more moments giving Santana the evil eye before shrugging and turning back in his chair. The rest of the class sat silently as if they'd just witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall, or a particularly vicious fist fight. Santana looked around suddenly.

"What?"

There was no response, but Coach Roz decided it was about time she got her class under control.

"Chill out, Santana. Anyway, for the rest of you, just keep doing what you're doing, or do better if you've been doing a terrible job. Another week means maybe not all of you will fail my class. Keep that in mind."

There were murmurs of agreement, and the shock of seeing Santana Lopez coming to the rescue of Brittany Pierce (though she certainly didn't need it, she'd sparred with Sam before) seemed to wear off, if only a bit. They were all shaken out of the moment when the bell rang to signal the end of class.

Santana tried not to make eye contact with anyone, especially Brittany, and gathered her things quickly before heading out the door. Brittany caught up with her near a quiet hallway and pulled her inside.

"Santana, you didn't have to do that."

"Whatever, he was being an ass."

"It doesn't matter. I like Sam, and he didn't mean anything by it anyway."

"Brittany, you just can't let people walk all over you. If you do that, people are going to think you're soft."

"You never thought that." She said, accusingly.

"Of course I did. But, you proved me wrong by kicking my ass. The first time I met you I thought you were going to be some pushover. You sat there and listened to Rachel tell you about her first dance recital for the better part of half an hour, and I figured it would take all of a week to crush you. But I tried and it didn't work, and then a week turned into two, and then it was a month, and then a year, and now we're juniors, and I just-I dunno. I regret that I wasted all that time, Brittany. You're a good person, and I see that now, and I regret so much all the time that I spent mocking you, and trying to cut you down, and all that time I could have been using to get to know you. Cause I like you, and I like you a lot, and I don't want to mess that up, but sometimes I wonder if you could ever trust me. If you could ever really like me too."

Santana's speech was delivered at a rapid fire pace, and she tried and failed to catch her breath a few times during it, but in the end was left almost panting.

Brittany didn't know what to say. She walked closer to Santana until she was only a breath away, and tugged on Santana's hand to bring her closer. And then, without thinking, she did the only thing she'd wanted to do since she had been sitting on her bed, staring into chocolate brown eyes, desperate and longing; she did the only thing she could do to convince Santana how much she liked her already, and how much she was sure she'd like her in the future.

Brittany kissed Santana.

At first Santana's eyes widened in shock. She'd seen Brittany leaning in, with that dazed look on her face. She thought she'd known what to expect, but kissing Brittany was nothing like she expected. Her eyes fell closed and she leaned into Brittany, wanting the full weight of her on her lips. It was both too slow and too fast, and she found herself getting short of breath. It was like molten lava was coursing through her veins, but shivers ran up and down her spine. Brittany's lips were soft, so soft, and tasted vaguely of vanilla. Santana ventured to run her tongue along the bottom one, and was surprised when Brittany opened her mouth just a bit. Brittany gripped Santana by the back of her arms, and then one arm snaked up, grasping at the back of her neck, and tilting her head in the right position. Santana surrendered herself fully to the kiss, and let Brittany take control.

Brittany pushed Santana back a bit, until they ran into a wall. Then, she used the angle, and her height advantage to dazzle Santana's mouth, spinning Santana around until she was dizzy from the high. The kiss volleyed between gentle and fierce, passionate and sweet, and everything in between. Santana pulled away with a pop, and tried to catch her breath.

"Brittany-" She said the name almost like a prayer.

"Hmmm?" Brittany responded, while going back to cover Santana's lips with her own. She nipped and bit softly with her canines, taking pleasure in the little moans and squeaks that escaped from the girl underneath her. With a soft turn, her thigh was between Santana's legs, and Brittany leaned forward a bit, bringing a pressure that both sated Santana and made her crave even more. The move sent Santana scrabbling for Brittany's back, searching for a handhold on her tight Cheerios' uniform to bring her closer. Brittany leaned her head down, pulling almost harshly on Santana's hair, sweeping it to the side and running her lips along Santana's neck. She ran a thick swipe along Santana's pulse with her tongue, and then along her jaw. The moaning became louder now, and Brittany couldn't decide if she needed Santana's hands on her as quickly as possible, or if she wanted to steal more precious seconds making her moan over and over. She returned her lips to Santana's mouth, swallowing the moan she made as Brittany brought one hand lower, rounding Santana's ass, and squeezing it firmly.

Footsteps nearby made Brittany come up for air, but she didn't move, just leaning over Santana's shoulder, placing a forearm against the wall, and tucking her forehead into the crook of her elbow. Her leg was still between Santana's, her other arm still tucked around her shoulders, her body still almost pressed flush. They both stood there, panting as the voices became louder, and when they passed by, Brittany leaned back. Just enough to look at Santana, just enough to gaze deep into Santana's eyes, watching her blown pupils and swollen lips, staring at the base of her throat and the pulse that thrummed there.

"That was…" Santana couldn't finish. She swallowed.

"Yeah." Brittany finished for her. She breathed for a moment more. "Kissing the wide receiver wasn't like that. Or the soccer captain for that matter."

Santana gave a nervous laugh, which brought Brittany's attention back to her more fiercely.

"Sorry. I mean, sorry, I should have asked. But you were just so cute, and I couldn't think of another thing I wanted to do in that moment." Brittany stammered.

"Does-does that mean that you really like me?"

Brittany pulled away a bit more from Santana, searching her face, then she leaned low, waggling her eyebrows. "Did that kiss not tell you everything you needed to know?"

Santana gave the nervous laugh again. "I'd rather hear you say it."

Brittany's face became serious, and she extricated herself from Santana's body, taking both of her hands. "Santana Lopez, I like you. I officially, unequivocally, completely, passionately like you. Like, a lot. And I regret the time we spent fighting just like you do. I just, I mean, I just like you."

Santana stood for a moment, searching Brittany's eyes for something that she wasn't saying, and smiled grimly. "I guess that's that then."

"I would have thought that would be great news."

"Britt, it's one thing for us to tell everybody that the feud is over. That we see each other as human beings after all. It's an entirely different thing to tell everybody that we're, you know, making out and stuff."

Brittany's grip faltered. "I thought you said you liked me."

"I do!" Santana took over the hold now, pulling Brittany's hands to her chest. "I do, and I'm so, so happy that you like me too. But, I'm just thinking about the logistics of the whole thing."

"Logistics. Santana, I mean, I can understand in theory what you're saying, but what does it matter if the other kids know that we're hanging out? That we're gals being pals? It won't make any difference to them."

"You know how this school works. We've crafted these lines, and without that structure, who knows how this will play out? We could become pariahs. And I didn't crawl to the top of the Cheerios' pyramid to go back to being a basic bitch."

"So, what, we just keep this a secret forever?"

"No! What? No. We just have to be careful and try to control the backlash, should it come to that."

"And how do we do that?"

Santana leaned back against the wall with a thump. "I have no idea."

Brittany turned and stood beside her, leaning against the wall as well. "Well, at least we've got some good news out of this whole JBL disaster."

"What's that?"

"We have another whole week to come up with a name for the baby."

\

After school, Santana had to pick Selena up from school, so Brittany was forced to find her own way home, hitching a ride with Mercedes. She'd saved up money all summer from working as a secretary at her dad's dental practice and bought a clunker that her parents would cover the insurance on. Brittany loved Mercedes' car, and had spent plenty of boring afternoons driving around in it with no real destination in mind, but today she found herself longing for a particular convertible. Artie had tagged along, and Brittany had stayed mostly quiet on the way to his house, but after getting Artie inside, and once she'd slid into the passenger seat, Mercedes made a disapproving noise.

"What?"

"What 'what'? You've been sitting over there since we got out of school, looking dreamily out the window. You kissed somebody today, Brittany Susan Pierce, and I want to know who."

Brittany tried her best to look shocked. "And what makes you think that I kissed somebody today?"

"Well, firstly…" Mercedes said, doing her best to keep her eyes on the road, but rolling them simultaneously. "Your ears are turning pink, and they always do that when you're about to lie."

Brittany futilely pulled down the bright yellow toboggan she was wearing over her ears.

"Secondly, you've got that faraway look in your eyes that you get when you get a crush on somebody, and it's worse than I've ever seen it because I mentioned ice cream, and you didn't demand that we stop at that place on the way back to your house and get you some rocky road."

Brittany still didn't reply.

"And thirdly, this is the first time that you've ridden home with me all week, and we've barely talked, and yesterday you said you had to get off the phone because your rabbit was yelling."

Mercedes voice was a little sad, and Brittany hurried to fix it.

"Well, she was, 'Cedes. Tommy had stepped on her foot, and Timmy was trying to comfort her, and I think one of them fell down the stairs in the process. It was a whole big production. Dad ended up giving a ten minute lecture on 'bunny safety'."

The frown didn't clear from Mercedes' face. "So, what, that's the reason your ears are pink?"

Brittany thought for a moment. She couldn't- No, she wouldn't lie to her best friend anymore. She took Mercedes' hand and took a deep breath.

"I did kiss somebody today."

Mercedes squealed, and looked around, quickly pulling the car over. "Who is it? Lucas, from bio? No, no, that guy from health class, Sam! Oh, was it that girl who wouldn't stop making goo goo eyes at you in the cafeteria the other day? I think she's a Cheerio!"

"Well-" Brittany began nervously. "You're half right. She is a Cheerio."

Mercedes scrunched up her face in thought. "Well, I know it's not Quinn. Though, I've heard rumours. There are a few upper classmen, but nobody I thought as really your type. Oh! Leslie something or other, you always liked her-"

Brittany squeezed her eyes shut. "It's Santana."

There was a moment of silence, and she was loathe to look at her best friend. She was only glad that Mercedes had pulled the car over before she'd heard the news.

"Santana?" Came the whispered reply.

Brittany opened one eye, and gazed at Mercedes, her eyes wide in shock, her mouth formed into a perfect, tiny 'o'.

"Santana Lopez? How are you even-? How is this even-?"

"The flour baby project. Remember everybody had a partner, and she's mine, and at first I thought I was going to hate it, but then Roz kind of blackmailed us, and I figured why not, and over the past couple of weeks, I've really gotten to know her, and she's AMAZING, Mercedes. I really, really like her, and I'm even more sure of that because today I kissed her and it was like nothing else I've ever experienced."

Brittany hoped that her explanation would make sense to Mercedes. She just hoped that her friend wouldn't disown her, but Mercedes just sat there, looking at her in disbelief.

"Mercedes? 'Cedes? Please say something. You're kind of freaking me out."

There was another long pause, and suddenly Mercedes' face split into a large grin and she pumped her fist.

"I knew it!"

"What-"

"I knew you were up to something, and I knew that it had to do with someone you weren't supposed to be doing something with. At first I thought it was that scrub that you had to dump last year, but were still acting all crazy over, and then I was watching you in history one day and Santana walked by, and everything clicked. I thought I was going to have to pull you off of her, but you smiled at her, and tried to play it off.. Girl, bye! I invented that trick."

Brittany tried to collect her thoughts. "You're telling me you knew?"

"I didn't know everything, but I knew something was up. But, seriously, Brittany, Santana Lopez? She's the one who made you think your grandmother had joined the circus."

"Well, that one's on her. She'll never get that three hundred bucks back from Cirque du Soleil."

Mercedes got quiet for a moment as she thought. "Is that who you're talking about when you were wondering if someone could change? Santana Lopez? Do you really trust her, Brittany?"

"I really do, Mercedes." Brittany said, nodding. "Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you right away. I just didn't know what would happen. I didn't even know if I wanted it to happen. But now I know that I really like Santana. I thought she was a bad person. We all did. But, I know how she really is. Everyone thinks she's a bad person, but she isn't."

"It's okay, Britt. It's okay." Mercedes patted Brittany's arm. "Look, if you like her, and you think she's changed, that's good enough for me. I'm going to be keeping an eye on her though. That's a promise."

Brittany leaned across the car's center console, wrapping Mercedes up in a tight hug. "Thank you, 'Cedes. I love you so much."

"I love you too, Britt. Now, lemme go so we can get back to your place. It's about time that we had a nice night in and gab about your newfound lady love."

Brittany blushed. "Okay, but I dunno if I can tell you everything."

"You're going to tell me everything about that kiss, that's got you blushing from ear to ear." Mercedes started up the car, and pulled out onto the lazy, suburban street.

"I don't even know how to describe it, MJ. She was just perfect. Like, her lips, her eyes. I didn't want to let go. You know when you kiss someone, and it's like falling into a vat of cotton candy while angels sing you lullabies?"

Mercedes got a faraway, wistful look on her face. "Yeah, I've been there."

"Well, it was like that. I felt like I was drowning in her eyes. But, in like a good way, like, her eyes were rocky road, and I was just, you know, slowly sinking into them."

"Well, that is something."

"And you know what the best part of it is, Mercedes?"

"What's that?"

"She really likes me too. She feels really bad about what we did to each other, and how much time we wasted, you know? And I know she wants to end this feud once and for all."

"But how, Britt? This has been going on for two years, and as a survivor of the Great Soda Wars of freshmen year, and the Bugle Binge of sophomore year, I don't know how this school will deal with a Brittana reconciliation."

"Well, they'll have to figure it out. People are always saying make love, not war, right?"

"I don't know if they mean it literally."

Brittany seemed to turn an even brighter red. "Well-well, I mean, me neither. I just mean, oh my god."

Mercedes laughed at her friend's discomfort and pulled into the driveway. "I knew what you meant. I don't know how you managed to hide this from me for so long. You're pretty obvious."

Brittany turned towards Mercedes, taking her hand, and giving her a serious look. "I'm really sorry, MJ. I didn't want to hide it from you, but I hadn't even known myself what was going on until, well, for a long time. And I didn't want to tell you just in case…. I know you have a lot of stuff that you might not be so quick to forgive her for, and I don't blame you for that. I just hope that you'll try."

"Britt, if she's serious about turning her ways around, and you two really like each other, I want you to succeed." Mercedes shook her head ruefully. "Only you could go from worst enemy to girlfriends overnight. You are something else, you know that Brittany Pierce?"

Brittany smiled. "Yeah, that's why you love me."

Mercedes only laughed as she followed Brittany into the house.

\

The night before the competitions, Santana had convinced her parents to let Brittany have a sleepover. Of course, they'd have to stay in separate bedrooms and be in their own bedrooms by lights out, but at least that way they'd have a little more planning time before the big day. Brittany was a little jealous of how much Santana's parents seemed to trust their daughter. They didn't belabour the fact that Santana had a girl spending the night, and just told her to make sure that they kept it down, and didn't wake up Selen, once she'd gone to bed.

Earlier that day, they had set the first part of their plan in motion, and it had worked pretty well. Santana figured that the best way to use Jane would be to make sure she was on the ground with them, once they got to the Cheer competition in Columbus, which, of course, just so happened to also be where the math tournament would be happening. So, they'd gone to Sue's office right before practice to try and convince her that letting Jane tag along on the day of.

"And why would I do that?" Sue snapped, seemingly more annoyed with the fact that her two head Cheerios had interrupted her designated 'Sue Time' than anything else.

"Well, because she's got potential." Santana blurted, having spent much less time thinking of excuses than she probably should have before coming into Sue's office.

"Oh please." Sue groaned. "I've seen more potential in a paper bag than in that girl."

Sue got up from her lotus position on the floor, and crossed the room, pouring herself one of her patented "shakes". The word was used loosely. It was no more shake than a can of motor oil, but it kept the girls on the team down to a pyramid stackable weight. Santana, Brittany, and most of the upper class Cheerios had spent the better part of a year on the stuff, up until it was outright banned by Principal Figgins after attention had been brought by some of the parents. Sue always kept some around, though, just in case, though, and Santana grimaced as she watched Sue chug a glass full of the stuff.

"You haven't seen what we've seen, Coach. She's got something, and I think-"

Sue didn't turn around before cutting Santana off. "No."

"But Coach-"

"I don't want the incoming girls getting any ideas that there's special treatment for the newbies. And besides, I haven't had the chance to break her the way I want to."

Brittany could see the storms gathering behind Santana's eyes, and she laid a calming hand on her arm.

"She's our special project, Coach."

Sue turned to look at Brittany, and raised an eyebrow before turning her gaze to Santana. "Special project?"

"Yep. Us. Together. We're going to get her into fighting shape, and leave a legacy for the Cheerios. You already have your hands full with the other girls, and we thought, that is, me and Santana, that this was something we could tackle as a team. Now that the flour baby project is done, that is."

Sue seemed to consider for a moment before taking another swig from her bottle. Santana watched her Adam's apple bob up and down as she tried to swallow the thick concoction. She slammed the cup down on her desk.

"So, this is a team up project? Like, build a bear, but build an idiot?"

Brittany ignored the barb and nodded happily. "Yep! And it means that Santana and I can keep working together. Like, into the future."

Sue pondered for another moment before squinting her eye at Brittany, over to Santana, and then back to Brittany again.

"I don't know what you two are up to, but if I find out that you've tried to cross me I will not hesitate to end you." She growled.

Santana could feel the pit of her stomach drop out, but when she looked at the happy way that Brittany nodded, she felt a bit more confident.

"Nope, nothing like that, Sue. We're just trying to help make a better squad. I've realized… Actually, Brittany helped me realize that a team is only as strong as the girls who make it. And I want to lend a hand. I've been slacking off as a captain, I'll be the first person to admit that, but I want to do better."

Santana tried to put on her most genuine of smiles, and Brittany could nothing but try not to smile herself at the falseness in it, but she kept her eyes glued ahead, silently begging Sue to come around to their way of thinking. Another moment of consideration, and their plan came crashing together with a wave of Sue's hand.

"Fine, but she's your responsibility."

"Got it!"  
"Yeah, yeah, we know."

With that, Brittany grabbed Santana by the arm, and lead her out of the office, and into the hallway. She could feel Santana getting more annoyed, and didn't want her getting into it with Sue. They could have lost their only shot at pulling the plan off if Sue and Santana had gotten into a screaming match. It wasn't the end of the world if Jane couldn't go, they would have figured things out somehow. But this was perfect, things had gone perfectly, and they now just had to make sure everything else went just as smoothly.

After a grueling Cheerios practice, and back at Santana's house, they laid in a hammock in Santana's backyard, chatting about nothing in particular. Brittany was starting to love being at Santana's house. The piece and quiet was one thing, she rarely got such a luxury at her parent's house. But it wasn't just that. No one shouted at the dinner table, or was naked, or had to be carried off by their ankles because they were covered in ham. No one started a screaming match about who ate the last of the cornbread. People passed things when they were asked, and talked about music and art and more than the newest Barney song. Granted, Selena was almost twelve, and four of Brittany's siblings were under ten, so that made a difference. Of course, she loved her family, and wouldn't want them any other way, but there was something to be said for quiet evenings spent around a civilized dinner table, with the cutlery laid out just so, and the water and wine glasses set in perfect alignment.

Brittany had told Santana this, and was surprised when she got a laugh in return.

"What?" She asked, turning a wary eye to Santana, but keeping a small smile on her face. "Are you laughing at me?"

Santana turned slightly in the hammock, careful not to upset their balance before wrapping an arm around Brittany. "Of course not, Britt. I just think it's funny because I feel the same way."

"You think my family is too loud?"

"No. Well, kind of. I mean, they're loud, but I like it. My family is so buttoned down sometimes, yours is like a breath of fresh air. I never know if the dog is going to try to jump in my lap, or Timmy is going to try and give me a frog he caught in the backyard."

Brittany began to laugh. "He just dumped it right on you! I swear, all the kids have a crush on you."

Santana turned a bit more towards Brittany, and pressed her lips against her temple. "But, I've got a crush on only one Pierce."

Brittany smiled, leaning into Santana's embrace. "Oh yeah, lemme guess. Is it Melody?

Santana shook her head, moving the kiss from Brittany's head, and down to her ear, earning a gasp in return.

"Um, Timmy? Or Tommy? I still can't believe you can tell them apart. It took me at least a year to finally figure it out." She said, rather breathlessly.

"What can I say? I have a talent." Santana said, pressing her lips further down to Brittany's jaw, and peppering the space there with kisses.

Another gasp from Brittany, but she continued, doing her best to ignore the shivers going down her spine. "Uh, maybe, um, Ethan?" The last part of the question came out weakly, and Santana stopped kissing suddenly, and sitting up, nearly knocking them out of the hammock.

She leaned over Brittany, staring down on her, her face twisted into an impish question mark. "Actually, is it too late to change? I'm pretty sure Ethan is the cutest Pierce."

Brittany hid her smile with a frown, and locked her hands behind Santana's head. "Yes, it's too late, sorry. I guess you're stuck with me."

Santana looked down on Brittany, smiling. "Well, if I'm stuck with you, I guess it's okay."

She leaned down and brought her lips onto Brittany's. Since the other day in the hallway, they'd spent more than their fair share of time making out. Santana kept waiting for the fireworks behind her eyes to stop going off every time she kissed Brittany, but it really didn't show any signs of stopping. They fumbled in the hammock for a few minutes more until the sound of laughter from the television show Santana's parents were watching drifted into the back yard, and they were both reminded that they weren't really alone.

Santana, who had managed to position herself mostly on top, settled herself into Brittany's arms with a sigh, and laid her head down on Brittany's chest, her ear pressed close, listening to her heartbeat. They lay there for a few more minutes, enjoying the sound of the night time surrounding them.

"Brittany?" Santana said, shyly.

"Yeah, San?"

"Can I ask you a question? You don't have to answer it if it's too personal."

Santana could feel Brittany nodding above her.

"Yeah, Santana, anything."

The way Brittany said 'anything' brought Santana's heart into her throat. She had to clear it a few times to find her voice.

"Your dad. He's, well, um, he's Asian. But you look like your mom. Plus, all your siblings look like the both of them. Where's your real dad? I mean, I know Pierce is your real dad, but I mean the guy, who, you know, your mom and him had you or whatever? Anyway, sorry, you don't have to answer if you don't want to."

Brittany squeezed Santana a little tighter, trying to pull some of the nerves out of her. "It's okay, Santana. I don't mind."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, of course."

There was a moment's paused, and Santana waited while Brittany gathered her thoughts. She was listening closely to Brittany's heartbeat and could have sworn that she heard it speed up a little bit. She moved her arms so she could more closely hold onto Brittany, and returned the squeeze.

"You can tell me whatever you want."

Brittany sighed. "It's not that. It's just a little embarrassing, I guess."

"Well, then don't worry about it. You don't have to tell me. I know that Pierce is your dad. I don't have to worry about anything else."

"But, I want you to know."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I've probably told maybe six people ,like, ever. They're all people who mean a lot to me. And you're one of them now, Santana."

Santana felt like her heart was going to burst. She'd only had a few people trust her the way that Brittany had in just a few short weeks. She'd thought Brittany very naive. She seemed to trust too easily, and love too quickly. But, she realized that Brittany only did that with those who she saw as worthy of her affections. She was quick to allow someone in, but if they didn't earn her trust, she was confident in refusing them. But, somehow, inexplicably, Santana had been given another chance, and she was determined not to squander it. She squeezed Brittany again.

"My mom had an affair when my parents first got married, and my mom had me. I never met my dad. I don't even think he knows I exist."

There was barely any emotion in Brittany's voice. She'd long since stopped being sad about the whole thing. Sometimes she'd wonder about the mystery of it all, but Pierce had been in her life for so long that she didn't bother thinking about it much anymore.

"But, Pierce Pierce raised me. He's my dad."

Now there was a note of defensiveness in Brittany's voice, though she tried to hide it. Santana looked up at Brittany, and gave her a solid kiss on the chin.

"And I definitely owe him one. He's ten out of ten as far as daughters are concerned."

Brittany laughed. "Okay, now I know you're talking about Melody."

Santana giggled, and wiggled her fingers over Brittany's ribs, causing her to giggle. "I guess I just have to tell Pierce Pierce that I'm in love with one of his daughters, and let him figure out which."

Brittany stopped laughing abruptly, and tried to sit up.

"In love?" She asked, a little breathless.

"Well, I just mean, I mean, that um-"

Brittany took the opportunity to tackle Santana, sending them both tumbling off the hammock, and onto the grass below.

"Somebody's got a crush, somebody's got a cruuuuush!" She said in a sing song-y voice while she continued to mercilessly attack Santana's stomach.

Santana used her thighs to gain some momentum around Brittany's waist, and swung over her, straddling her body.

"Oh, you've got it coming for you now, Pierce!"

Brittany shrieked, and tried to wiggle away, only to be held fast to Santana, who was doing her best not to keel over as she laughed.

"Girls! Come in, it's getting late." Came a voice from the back door.

They stopped their wrestling match guiltily, and untangled themselves.

"Coming, Mrs. Lopez!" Brittany squeaked. She waited for Santana to stand, and grabbed her hand, leaning closely into her side. "And for the record, 'I just mean, I mean, um' you too."

Santana was too shocked to catch the mockery. "Seriously?"

"Unless you'd rather I get Melody over here."

"Shut up, you."

Checking to make sure that Maribel had already gone back inside, Brittany snuck a quick kiss onto Santana's cheek. Then, grabbing her hand more securely, tugged her back inside the house.

The movie they were watching, one with lots of gore (Brittany had insisted), was wrapping up when Santana went to the kitchen to refill the popcorn bowl. Coach would kill them if she knew how much they were snacking the night before a competition, but she didn't care. It was movie night, and Brittany had insisted that it wasn't movie night unless they had snacks. She'd wanted gummy worms, and Santana had managed to talk her down from that, so she considered it a win.

She wouldn't say she spent much time trying to convince Brittany of something one way or another. Brittany was her own person, she had her own thoughts and ideas, and had done pretty well for herself before Santana came along. But they were very different, that was for sure, and Santana always had fun meeting her head on and wrestling on some random issue. Literally or otherwise. She had always admired Brittany's stubbornness, and it seemed to her that whatever differences they had between them, they had that in common. They both liked a challenge, and they both like seeing what the other was capable of. Brittany was smart. Santana knew that, of course, but there were some things she wasn't good at. Santana knew that she almost always sucked when it came to literature. That was thanks to a mild form of dyslexia, that made reading a chore. But she could calculate the number of pieces of popcorn in a bag based on dimensions and average size, and Santana didn't have to know anything about math to know that was some next level stuff.

Over the course of a month, she'd gone from absolute hatred to begrudging admiration, to full out adoration, and her head was still spinning. They hadn't said the words really (her slip up on the hammock notwithstanding), but there was something intense about the feelings she had for Brittany. A part of her worried that it was a silly school girl crush, but some deeper part of her, maybe that voice that was always telling her the truth, knew that wasn't the case.

Santana opened the refrigerator, leaning in for a second, before pulling out a bottle of water. She let the door close, but opened it again to grab one of those orange sodas that Brittany liked so much (it was actually from her dad's stash, but he couldn't complain if she took it for a guest), and went to stand next to the microwave, and watch the popcorn pop. Santana heard the footsteps behind her before she heard her mother's voice.

"Is the movie over already, Santanita?"

"Si, Mami. But we thought we might watch a couple episodes of Real Housewives before we go to bed."

"You have to be up early, corazon. I don't want Sue sending another scathing email about how we are the gatekeepers to the Sue's soldiers, and should be keeping you on a strict routine." She sighed. "I swear, if you weren't so dead set on working with that woman I would have strangled her years ago."

Santana shrugged. "She's tough, Mami, but she's going to get me in whatever school I want to get into in the whole country."

"Your grades are good enough for that, mija."

"But you know they're not enough."

Maribel didn't respond, but walked around the counter, standing close to her daughter.

"And Brittany?"

Maribel could feel Santana stiffen beside her, but she didn't say anything, simply waiting, listening to the microwave hum near them.

Santana cleared her throat, thinking quickly. Of course, she knew that her parents might not approve of her new relationship with Brittany. She and the other cheerleader had spent the better part of two years driving each other up the wall, and now they were… Well, whatever they were. She'd never come home crying because of one of Brittany's pranks, but that didn't mean that she'd gone to bed every night dry eyed. And her parents had to know that. At the very least they saw the trail of broken school supplies she'd left in her wake, as she furiously marched from one room to another. They'd certainly turned those feelings around. And quickly at that. It hadn't even been two months prior that she had been buying eight dozen pairs of overalls (for what would be dubbed 'the denim massacre'), overcharged her father's card, and had to pony up some of her summer's babysitting money to make up the difference.

Maribel crossed her arms, leaning back against the counter. "You two looked pretty comfortable outside in the hammock."

"We weren't doing anything, Mami." Santana said defensively.

Maribel leaned into Santana, nudging her gently with her shoulder. "I wasn't implying that you two were doing anything you shouldn't have been doing, mija. I'm talking less about what you were doing, and who you were doing it with."

Santana stood still for a moment. "You mean because it's Brittany."

"Mhmmm."

"Well, what can I say, Mami? She's um, well, I guess she's not as bad as I thought she was."

"Santanita, she told everyone you were allergic to bees, and poor Finn Hudson got covered in stings when he lunged into that hive for you."

"Yeah, and I trapped her in that honey tornado."

Maribel sighed.

"I just mean, Mami-" Santana interrupted. "That neither of us was a complete angel. But, I know her now-"

"And how can you be sure of that?"

"Brittany doesn't have a dishonest bone in her body!"

Maribel raised an eyebrow, and couldn't help the skeptical look that crossed her face.

"Ok, ok, well, maybe a few bones. Some metatarsals. But she's not bad. And, I guess I kind of like her."

"Kind of?"

"Really, I guess. Like, really like her." Santana turned to her mother shyly. "Is that okay?"

Santana turned more as Maribel put an arm around her shoulder.

"Your father and I love you, Santana. And we trust you. You have always done what you're supposed to do in school, and you've always been the most hard headed person I've ever met."

Santana laughed.

Maribel continued with a smile. "Seriously. I'll never forget how many arguments we used to get into when you were a toddler. Over silly things like what you were going to have for lunch or what you were going to wear. Long after most kids would have given up, I'd check in on you, and you'd still give me that huff and turn your shoulder. Time outs, spankings, groundings, none of it worked. I just had to believe that we'd raised a good kid, and let you figure it out on your own. So, I did."

She took Santana's hands in her own, and looked into the girl's eyes.

"And I still do. But, I will never, never forgive her if she breaks your heart, Santana. So, if you like her, if you really like her, make sure you know what you're doing. Because I pity her if she's made Mama Lopez angry."

She put an arm around Santana's shoulder, pulling her in close, and kissing her softly on the crown of her head.

"Just remember what I've said, Santana. Okay?"

Santana nodded, swallowing around the lump in her throat. She wasn't exactly sure why she was feeling emotional. But knowing that her mother loved her enough to look past her and Brittany's bad blood, to see the potential in their relationship. A part of her was also thinking about Mike. She hadn't given him enough credit. Yeah, Brittany had put her through some stuff over the years, but also, Mike was a good guy. If he got to know Brittany, he would be able to appreciate her as much as she did. She needed to make this right. She turned, hugging her mom, and burying her face in her shoulder.

"I screwed up with Mike, Mami."

Maribel had been kept abreast of the situation with her daughter's best friend, and smiled gratefully. "I'm glad you've finally figured that out."

"How do I fix it?"

"Mike has been around in this house almost as much as Selena. He will always belong. Just make sure that he knows how much he means to you."

"Yeah."

They stood for another moment in silence, when suddenly the microwave beeping startled both of them. Santana stood up, grabbing the hot bag of popcorn carefully, and putting the whole thing, bag and all, into the bowl.

"I guess I'm going to go this out there. Gracias, Mami."

"Aw, mi corazon, I'm just happy that you're happy. Remember, don't stay up too late. You want to be well rested for the match tomorrow."

"Si, mami. I promise. Te amo."

"Yo te quiero tambien, bebe."

Another kiss on her temple, and her mother left Santana to her own devices, continuing up the stairs and to bed. Santana walked sheepishly into the living room, where Brittany bounced up from the couch at her approach, grabbing the popcorn bowl and one of the sodas.

"You almost missed the best part, Santana. Vivian was saying that Monica stole her potato salad recipe, and Jenny pushed Sarah into the pool. But, I think now they're going to make up before Madison's book release party."

She opened the bag of popcorn and emptied it into the bowl, setting the bowl in her lap, and grabbing the flour baby off of the couch (where she'd put her in Santana's spot, and had her wrapped her in a blanket), and setting her in Santana's lap. She leaned against Santana's side, grabbing the other girl's arm and wrapping it around her shoulders.

"Britt?"

"Yeah?" Brittany answered absentmindedly.

"You said when you told Mercedes… About, you know, us, she took it pretty well?"

Brittany thought for a moment, then pushed pause on the DVR, sitting up and facing Santana.

"Yeah, she was. I mean, she was a little shocked, but she got over it pretty quickly. And she was happy for us. Well, more for me. She told me to make sure I wasn't getting in over my head, but she's done that with anyone that I've dated."

Santana's eyes went wide. "You think we're dating?"

"You don't?" There was a panic in Brittany's voice that Santana hurried to calm.

"No, no. I mean, yeah. I mean, we hadn't said it or anything, but, I dunno, Britt, doesn't dating someone require actual dates?"

"Santana, we've gone of a date almost every night this week." Brittany rolled her eyes.

"No, we took the baby to Breadstix-"

"Where we had dinner and shared an appetizer."

"Well, before that we went to the movies."

"Where I insisted on paying for both tickets and our snacks."

"The ice skating-"

"Was definitely a date. That's why we went all the way to Westerville, so no one would see us."

Santana cocked her head to the side, thinking. "Oh, yeah."

Brittany smiled and settled back down against Santana's side. "So, the precedent has kind of already been set, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"And you could do a lot worse than me, the mother of your child."

Santana smiled, and buried her face in Brittany's hair. "Point taken."

After a few more seconds, she sighed. "But Mike…"

She trailed off, and Brittany spent a few moments running her fingers through Santana's hair calmingly before she responded.

"What about Mike?"

Another sigh. "I just don't know how to make it right with him. I know I screwed up, and I just want him to know how sorry I am. I want to tell him about us."

Brittany took Santana's hand, and played with her fingers. "He's going to be happy for you. For us. Trust me, San, he loves you, you know? You can trust him."

"I know, I know. I just don't want to have screwed up things too much."

"He's your best friend, right? He'll come around. Sooner rather than later."

Santana put her arm back around Brittany, and squeezed gently. "And how do you know?"

"Cause you talk about him all the time, duh. And also, I've seen him around. Everybody likes him. Even people that, you know, haven't always liked you."

"Like who?"

"Like Mercedes. She's got a few classes with him, and says he's a nice guy."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Santana didn't respond to that, but reached for the remote (careful not to jostle Brittany too much), and continued the episode.

"So, Veronica finally went into the pool, huh?"

"No, it was Jenny who pushed Sarah. Let's start over from the beginning, I don't want to you miss anything."

Santana smiled and settled into the couch, pulling Brittany closer. "Thanks, Britt."

* * *

 _Another AN: I wanted to put this at the bottom so people wouldn't feel the need to read a bunch of stuff, but I wanted to give a shoutout to all the Anon reviewers who have been leaving positive words of encouragement on this story. This story started out as kind of a lark, but it's grown from there, thanks mostly to all the support I've gotten. You all rock. You've been seeing into the characters in a really amazing way, and giving me insight into my own story (of course, with characters who are already fully formed), and I can't thank you enough for that. Feel free to PM me, and chat about whatever. I really love meeting new people in the fandom and making new friends! -frankie_


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning, the next part of their plan came into action. They were supposed to meet Sue and the Cheerios in the parking lot of the school at seven o'clock, so they could all take the designated Cheerios' Chariots to Columbus, which was about an hour and a half away from Lima. But, a big part of their plan was dependent on having their own transportation. So they pulled up to the parking lot, having picked up Jane already from her house, ready to bring Sue around to their way of thinking.

They had been ready for a fight, but Sue waved them off, mumbling something about the gas money not coming out of the budget, and heading into the bus to do the final head count.

Brittany turned to Santana, and rubbed a thumb across her forehead. "Worrying causes wrinkles, San."

"There's just something not right going on here. I don't know what it is, and I can't put my finger on it, but something is definitely off."

"We are the captains, Santana. Plus we're upperclassmen. Maybe she just thinks that because we're taking care of Jane, we should have a bit more freedom."

Santana kept her eyes on the bus with Sue inside. "Have you ever known Sue to be 'hands off' about anything? I don't know, Britt, I don't trust her."

Brittany reached for Santana's hand over the center console, and kissed the palm, wrapping both of her hands around it.

"Try not to think of everything that can go wrong. Let's just focus on doing the plan like we planned it."

"How can you not think of everything that might go wrong?" Santana's voice was a little strained, and Brittany's kiss hadn't calmed her like she'd hoped it would.

"When we were pranking each other, and I'd come up with a killer plan, I'd just set it up, and let it go. Just, you know, release it into the world. If it worked out, it would work out, if not, it wouldn't. You can't mentally force a plan to work."

Santana turned to Brittany, taking both of her hands. "But this is more than just the time with all those goose eggs in the telephone booth. If this doesn't work out, you could be off the Cheerios. You could get kicked out of school."

"Then, let's not let that happen." Brittany replied, as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

They caught each other's eyes for a few long moments until Jane cleared her throat from the back seat. "Um, if we don't leave now we're not going to beat the buses there."

"Yeah, yeah, right. Let's go."

Santana squeezed Brittany's hands one last time, and turned to start the car, pulling out of the parking lot. She knew she was being dramatic, but the thought of having to go through Cheerios practice, or having to go to McKinley everyday, without being able to see Brittany caused a sinking feeling in her stomach. She wasn't sure how deep her affection for the other girl went, but she knew that in the past month her hatred had turned into something more than good will, and more than friendship. She swallowed around the lump in her throat, and tried to focus on the road.

Brittany turned on the radio, plugging in her iPod, and starting up her road trip playlist. She had prepared it a few days earlier together, and it varied wildly, shifting from Amy Winehouse to Daft Punk. She tried to keep her hands to herself, knowing that Santana would be self conscious with Jane in the car, but she'd look over, and the creases of worry would be deepening on Santana's face, and she just couldn't help herself.

She had been planting a series of kisses on up Santana's arm when Jane cleared her throat again.

"Maybe, we should go over my part in this whole thing. Just to be sure."

Santana glanced in the rear view mirror at the freshman, and patted Brittany's thigh gently, squeezing it to get her attention.

"Yeah, so, it's pretty simple. It's just goes back to the tried and true technique of making yourself invisible: misdirection." Santana began.

"But I don't understand why we're going to be searching for someone when we asked her to come in the first place."

"Because, Jane-" Brittany explained patiently. "If Sue thinks we're busy 'searching' for Roz, she's not going to be searching for us."

"But won't she notice we're missing?"

"It's all smoke and mirrors. Like David Copperfield and the Statue of Liberty. If someone thinks they know where you're supposed to be, they won't bother looking for you in someplace that you're not." Santana explained.

"And if she does look for us somewhere where we're not?"

"That's where you come in. If Sue ever notices I'm missing, and Santana can't explain it, it'll be up to you to bridge the gap. If you're up to it, that is."

Jane tried and failed to hide her enthusiasm. "I'm up for it! I'm just really glad you decided to trust me."

"Yeah, well, don't get any ideas. If anything we're just using you to further our plans."

"What Santana means is thank you. Right, Santana?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just make sure you're around when I need you."

Jane was sure she saw the faint ghost of a smile on Santana's lips, and nodded happily. "Sure! Of course. Don't worry about me."

Honestly, she was just happy that she'd been considered for such an important plan. She'd never imagined that as a freshman, she'd have a chance to hang out with the Captains of the Cheerios, who were juniors, and the two of the most popular girls at the school. Not only that, but she had been able to witness them going from enemies to, well, whatever it was that they were now. Friends? Girlfriends? She wasn't sure. More than that, she'd actually found herself caring about them. They had both seemed to take a special interest in her since that first day they'd run together. Santana was there to push her to her limits, running her harder, making her practice wind sprints and flips and tumbling way past the point where the other girls had given up. Meanwhile, Brittany would leave little gifts for her in her locker after she'd had a particularly stressful practice. Each day, she found herself feeling more and more like a Cheerio, and more and more like their friend. She hadn't expected anything like that since she'd joined up. In fact, she was already preparing her speech for Sue when she'd quit. But something about working with Brittany and Santana had turned her around. She found herself looking forward to Cheerios' practice, and even though the work was hard, she felt more accomplished afterwards. She figured that not many people got to see Brittana like she saw them now, when they had let their guard down, and could be gentle together. She felt honored in some small way to get the chance to see that.

And now they'd entrusted her as the lynchpin in their whole plan. It was a lot of responsibility, but she couldn't let them down. Once they arrived at the convention center where the competition was being held, she'd have to bring her A game, and definitely not screw anything up. She felt the pressure, but she knew she'd thrive.

Up in the front seat, Brittany had both her hands wrapped around the one Santana laid in her lap.

"We should go to Columbus more often."

"Hmm?" Santana lost in her own thoughts, untangled her hand from Brittany's and reached for the water bottle in the cup holder between them, taking a sip.

"Well, it's just a nice road trip, and it isn't too far. I'm pretty sure my parents would even consider letting me go for a long weekend or something."

"Yeah, I'm sure they wouldn't mind of shacking up in a hotel room away from their prying eyes for three days straight."

"Well, it's not like one of us is going to get pregnant."

Santana sputtered, choking on her water, and coughing so hard that she almost went off the road. She turned and gave Brittany a sideways glance, and rolled her eyes as she noticed the cheeky grin on the other girl's face.

"You're a mess."

"Probably." Brittany replied, scrunching her nose as she giggled.

Santana deposited the bottle back in the console, and grabbed for Brittany's hand. "But, you're my mess." She cooed, leaning over so Brittany could kiss her cheek.

Brittany complied but not before giving Santana a playful shove. "You're such a sap. I never would have believed you could be such an absolute marshmallow."

"Well, you only knew the rough side. I'm like 10% marshmallow."

"More like 90%..."

Santana rolled her eyes again. "Whatever. You like all this marshmallow."

Brittany reached over and pinched Santana's thigh. "I actually do."

The two giggled, and Jane sat back in the seat with a sigh. They were actually both sickly sweet, but there was something endearing about them. They were both putting a lot on the line for each other, and that said a lot. She'd seen them at the beginning of the year; every Cheerios' practice had been a powder keg about to blow. At the very least, the Cheerios wouldn't be the same. Even less so if they didn't pull off this plan.

Jane must have started to doze because the next thing she knew, they were pulling into the Columbus Conference Center, and making their way to the parking garage. It was a sprawling affair, with three separate buildings that were connected by covered walkways. As far as she knew, the cheerleading competition would be taking place in there for most of the day. In the meantime, at a much smaller, and less impressive location about ten minutes away, the math competition would be starting a bit later. Santana had had to drive a bit above the speed limit because they needed to beat the buses there, and it wouldn't be long before they set their plan in motion.

"Look, Jane-" Santana started, as she stood at the trunk of her car, pulling all of their gym bags out, and laying them on the ground. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to, alright? We have you factored into the plan, but if you decide that it's not for you, we won't think less of you if you decide to get out. We've had two years in the Cheerios, and it's been pretty good. I don't want to ruin your chances before you even get off the ground."

There was a brutal honesty in her voice. It was something that Jane hadn't heard so clearly before. Brittany was always so optimistic, that Santana constantly tried to downplay her natural pessimism. But this was some straight talk that Jane was sure she wouldn't get the chance at again. Santana was offering her an out. If their plan failed, she and Brittany wouldn't be the only ones kicked off the Cheerios. Jane would feel the burn of Sue's wrath as well.

She smiled softly. "Thanks for that, Santana, but I couldn't do that to the two of you. Besides, if this plan doesn't work, and Sue finds out, I'd much rather not be on the Cheerios without my two captains."

Santana returned her smile, and patted her gingerly on the back.

"Then, let's do this!" Came Brittany's voice from the front of the car. She hopped around to the back, and slammed the trunk shut, kissing Santana soundly on the cheek before grabbing Santana's bag and then her own. "Grab our little girl, San, I don't want her getting heat stroke in the car."

Santana smiled a bit more fully, and walked towards where Brittany had left the baby, perched in a carrying harness on the hood.

"I can carry my own bag, Brittany." She said, teasingly.

"I know, but for the time being I have very few ways to mark you as off the market, and I plan on making the most of it."

"So, you're telling me, that once people know we're together, you're going to stop carrying my bags?"

"You got it, princesa. You'll be carrying your own bags from then on out."

"What if I don't wanna?" Santana whined.

Brittany purred, wrapping her free hand around Santana's waist. "Well, then you'll have to be really good, and make it up to me, and maybe I'll change my mind."

Jane raised an eyebrow, and then nodded towards the busy parking garage. "If you two keep this up, everybody in the conference center is going to know she's off the market in a few minutes."

Santana saw the reason in Jane's argument and balked, taking a few cautious steps away from Brittany. "She's right. It's kind of important that people don't know how close we've gotten. At least for today."

Brittany sighed. "The last day."

"Yup."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Then, let's get to it!" Brittany pumped her fist in excitement, hiking a duffel bag further up her shoulder.

They walked in past teams of cheerleaders from all over Ohio, nearby places like Indiana, Michigan and Pennsylvania, and as far as Minnesota. It was a who's who of Midwestern cheerleading programs, and while they didn't exist in the cutthroat world of Texas cheerleading, or the ultra competitive football conferences, there was still some stiff competition to be had. Of course, no one was on the level of Sue Sylvester, and they all knew it. So, when Santana and Brittany strolled in in their Cheerios' uniforms (Jane was dressed down in the team's red and white, and an unassuming Cheerios' t-shirt), more than a few looks were thrown their way. Some were curious, plenty were practically green with envy, and the rest were what could only be described as murderous. If Sue was a terror at McKinley, she was a downright force of nature at competition. The haughty cattiness that she showed in the hallways of their high school was replaced by a cold, calculating ruthlessness. The strange thing was, it never devolved to cheating or backstabbing. Sue was the best cheerleading coach in the country, she had the trophies to prove it. And that made her all the most self assured, and more diabolical in competition, but without the need to cheat or lie. If there was one thing she always knew she could do and do well was win cheerleading championships.

Getting noticed in their uniforms irked Santana a bit because they'd be more likely to be spotted and remembered, and she wished she had thought to change when she'd left the house that morning. But there was nothing to be done. Sue demanded that all of the Cheerios wear their uniforms any time they were on the school grounds, and especially when they were going to competition. Brittany would strip her's off the second she got free (much to Santana's delight), but Santana was more slow about it. She wore the uniform as a mark of pride and honor, and wasn't quick to peel it off.

They skipped the registration table as they walked through the entrance, and moved towards a seemingly empty room.

"In here." Santana said, pulling their small group inside.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a tiny phone. It wasn't the big, smartphone that she normally used but a smaller one that a person might buy on sale at WalMart. She pressed the call button several times, calling back the only number this phone would be connected with. Jane and Brittany huddled around her, trying to listen in, and Santana put one finger up for quiet, handing the phone quickly to Jane. Jane nodded, sure of her part, and listened to the phone ring.

On the third ring, the call connected, and there was a slightly groggy, but no less annoyed voice on the other side. Jane turned on the speakerphone.

"What is it?"

Jane cleared her throat, raising her voice a pitch, and adding a pretty convincing upper midwest accent. "I just wanted ta make sure you were still on yer way. Sue's gonna be here soon, and ya don't wanna make her suspicious, don't ya know."

"Oh, please. I could give two shakes of whether or not Sue is suspicious." The voice sighed. "But it doesn't even matter because I'm on my way. I'm about to pull into the parking garage now."

Brittany and Santana fist bumped, silently.

"Well, good, good. I just wanted ta, you know, cross my t's and all that."

"This better be worth it, Mildred. You promised me the complete destruction of Sue Sylvester's exclusive Cheerios' locker room privileges."

"Yup, yup, exactly. This will be something you'll want to see with yer own eyes."

"It better be." The voice grumbled and continued. "Got me driving two hours on a Saturday morning, you better be glad we don't have a swim meet today, or I swear 'for god, I would have to lay the smack down-"

The phone call disconnected, and Jane looked down with wide eyes. "She hung up."

Brittany waved a hand. "It's fine. We know where she is, and we know where Sue is, and we're ready to go."

"How do we know that?" Jane asked.

"Quinn." Santana took the phone back from Jane and stuck it in her duffle. "She's still on the bus with Sue and we're texting her for updates. Apparently, they're about ten minutes away. So, we've got plenty of time."

"It's gotta be timed exactly right, Santana." Jane said, worrying her lip between her teeth.

Brittany stepped forward, cutting Santana off as she took a deep breath to go after the freshmen for questioning her techniques.

"You let us worry about that, Jane." She said quickly, leaning back slightly into Santana's shoulder. "And just get to the bus park and let us know when they arrive. And make sure you stall them until you get the signal from us."

Jane gulped loudly, but nodded, and rushed off, grabbing her bag as she headed for the door.

"Wait a second, Jane." Santana said, marching over to her and putting two arms on her shoulder. She lowered her voice and looked her in the eye. "Remember what I said. You don't have to do this if you don't want to."

Jane nodded nervously, taking a deep breath. "I'm in it now, Santana. What else could I do?"

Santana gave her a small smile, and then reached into her bookbag. "Then don't forget this, you knucklehead." She said a bit louder, pulling out a small radio, and giving it to Jane. "We each have one. Your callsign is Electric Lady. I'm Lima Heights, Britt is Unicorn. Got it?"

Jane nodded as Santana patted her shoulder firmly, opened the door, and shoved her out. "Get to it."

Jane was off like a shot, and Santana leaned back against the door, closing her eyes for a moment. Suddenly, she could feel a warmth on her face, and as she tried to catch her breath, Brittany slid her arms around Santana's middle. She pressed her face into the curve of Santana's neck, but didn't press her lips there. There was a innocence in her touch, and Santana melted into it.

"Have you always worried this much?"

"I'm not worried." Santana tried to make her voice even.

"You're a terrible liar, Santana Lopez."

Santana grunted. "Remind me not to play poker with you."

"The only kind of poker I play is strip."

Santana's eyes snapped open, and she could feel Brittany's smile on her skin. She cleared her throat. "Let's get out there and meet Roz."

"Yup."

They gathered their things and headed out the door.

\

Brittany and Santana stood perched on the fifth floor of the parking garage, peeking down between two cars and trying their best not to be suspicious. They'd looked for Roz for only a few minutes before noticing her nondescript Honda pulling into a parking space. Luckily for them the traffic leading into the parking deck had slowed her down a bit, giving them plenty of time to find her and get into a good position. They ducked down, and followed her car up a few rows. Then, after she'd parked and gotten out of the car, Santana pulled the phone out of her pocket, and drafted a text, handing it to Brittany to look over.

"I don't know if you want to lead with a threat, San." Brittany said, eyeing Santana's text.

"Well, we want her to know that we mean business."

Brittany grunted, and with a few keystrokes handed the phone back to Santana.

"'Meet us in conference room 19B.' Straight and to the point, I like it. Maybe you should be in charge of this part, B. When she realizes that there's no 19B, she'd bound to become irate, and I don't deal well with foolishness."

Santana hit send on the message and then held out the phone to Brittany who took it with a laugh. "Sure, Santana. I can handle that."

They both looked over as Roz looked at her phone and sighed deeply, heading off into the conference center with purpose.

Brittany smiled. "And so, the game is afoot."

"Nerd." Santana laughed.

Whatever reply Brittany would have made was lost by a sharp crackle on Santana's hip.

"Lima Heights, Lima Heights, this is Electric Lady. We've got a code blue situation!" Jane yelled through the radio.

Santana grabbed it, and turned down the volume. "What is it?" She hissed into the microphone.

"The eagle has landed! Early! And it looks like she is pissed.."

Brittany gave Santana a startled look. "I thought we still had time."

"I dunno. Shit, _shit._ If Roz and Sue run into each other this early, they'll have time to talk and this will all be ruined. Okay, think Lopez, think!" Santana squeezed the radio tightly in her fist.

Brittany had the phone in her hand, and typed out a quick message.

Santana leaned came in close, reading over Brittany's shoulder. "'Actually change in plan. Stay in the car park for ten minutes, and then meet me in the conference room.'"

"See? Easy."

"But will she do it, Britt?"

Brittany shrugged and turned her attention to Roz, who was making her way steadily to the elevators. They both held their breath as she marched, not minding the din of cheerleaders and their coaches all around.

The radio crackled again. "Lima Heights, this is Electric Lady. The eagle is currently parked in front of the conference center. She has started ripping the faces off of anyone who walks by."

Jane's stage whisper was quieter now, but it didn't stop Santana from putting a hand protectively over the speaker. She kept her eyes glued on Roz, and could tell that Brittany was doing the same beside her. If she didn't turn back now, she would run directly into Sue, and that was definitely **not** the plan. They wanted to the two of them to gracefully fly by each other in orbit, not slam into each other at full force.

The seconds stretched out, feeling like years, as Roz took step after sure step towards the convention center. Brittany put a hand on Santana's arm, steadying her. She could feel Santana's muscles, straining against her skin. She was ready to bolt from behind the car, and do who knows what, but Brittany tried to let some of her patience flow through the touch. Just when she thought she'd have to tackle Santana to keep her from diving over the car they were ducking behind, Roz stopped, patting her pockets and pulling out the phone with a grimace. She stared down at the message, and frowned, before hitting a few keys in response. The reply seemed to reach them much more quickly, and the phone buzzed in Brittany's hand.

 **Red Herring: What do you mean, 'change of plan'? Make up your mind!**

Brittany typed out a response, and didn't bother letting Santana approve before she hit send.

 **Trust me. It will be well worth it.**

The two girls could see Roz's annoyance from across the parking garage, but hoped that her hatred for Sue would win the day. They both held their breaths as Roz looked down at the reply, and thought for a moment. They both released the breath at the same time as Roz turned and headed back to the car, getting into the driver's seat, reclining a bit, and closing her eyes.

"That was close." Brittany breathed.

"Too close. What the hell? How could Fabray be that far off? She almost screwed everything up."

"She doesn't know how important this all is, Santana."

"Even more reason not to make a mistake like that. Absolutely no pressure at all." Santana threw up her hands, and began gathering her bag. "Anyway, let's get back in there. We've actually got to warm up and stuff."

Brittany pulled her own radio out of her bookbag, depressing the talk button. "Electric Lady, this is Unicorn. Mermaid is still in the cove. Repeat, mermaid is in the cove."

"Got it." Came the reply.

Brittany put the radio in the pocket of her hoodie, pulling Santana up from her squat, and dragging her back towards the elevator. "We do not want Sue to think we're getting here late, come on."

Santana allowed herself to be pulled along, but the frown remained on her face. She looked down at the phone in her hand, noting the time.

"It's 8:30. Sue is really early."

"Maybe she was going after the bus driver again. You know that makes her all antsy. It's fine, we've got plenty of time before Sue watches everyone do their post bus ride jumping jacks, and then spends at least ten minutes yelling about their form. We've gotta get up to the scheduling room."

"Are you sure you know where you're going?"

"Yep!" Brittany said, proudly. "Just trust me, Santana."

Of course, she'd told Santana all before how she'd known where the schedulers would be doing their work. She'd told her how her cousin, who'd been dancing all through high school and college with a cheer team, had graduated and volunteered for this a few years in a row. He was still tight with a lot of the folks who ran the competition, and had gotten the inside information on where they normally did the last minute scheduling. There were always coach's making requests, last minute replacements and injuries. Sometimes it would take a bit more convincing to get the schedule changed this show, but Brittany and Santana had more than luck on their side. They had the pure unadulterated fear that came at the mere mention of Sue Sylvester.

They approached the room, noticing the US All Star Federation sign on the front door reading 'STAFF ONLY'. Standing in front of the door, Brittany reached down and grabbed Santana's hand as she knocked. She then quickly turned and kissed Santana's cheek, facing forward as the door opened.

"For luck."

The busy room was jam packed with people, computer and papers, flying each way, and the woman who'd answered the door was holding a tablet, and clicking furiously. She took a few moments to look up, and when she did, her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Can I help you?"

Santana was still a bit distracted from Brittany's drive by kiss, but she cleared her throat and plunged ahead.

"We're here for some scheduling changes."

"The schedule hasn't even gone out yet! If some coach from Bumblefuck, Michigan thinks that we're adjusting this plan, and we haven't even-"

"The changes are from Sue Sylvester."

That shut the other woman up quickly. She pursued her lips until they formed a thin, disapproving line on her face.

"Wait here." She said shortly.

The door closed in their faces, and they could hear the woman furiously discussing the interruption with her colleagues. In the meantime, Santana let go of Brittany's hand, and rifled through her bag, pulling out a folder and a piece of paper inside. She handed it to Brittany, who took it with a sly smile. Santana had stolen the letter head from Sue's own desk, and it had taken more than her usual amount of cunning. It had definitely helped that Brittany had distracted the cheer manager, Becky, while she'd tripped the alarm on Sue's 'trophy closet'. They'd drafted the message together, with just the right amount of presumption and disdain, and it guaranteed that they would have enough time to make it to as many of Brittany's matches as possible.

Their plan all came down to timing, and misdirection. The actual cheer routines only took about a minute and a half to do. And since it was only regionals, Sue wouldn't be keeping her crew under her thumb as much as usual. They'd have plenty of wiggle room to disappear for an hour or so, and then show back up with no one the wiser. The first way they planned on doing that depended on Roz being where they wanted her, when they wanted her. The second way was making sure that when Brittany was supposed to be in competition with the mathletes, she wasn't supposed to be tumbling with the Cheerios.

The door re-opened and the woman's dark face was scrunched into a scowl.

"What does she want?"

Brittany handed over the paper with a cheery smile, and the woman snatched the paper, glaring over it before handing it to an unseen person behind her. The woman with the tablet didn't even bother with a reply before she was about to close the door in their faces, but Santana spoke up quickly.

"What do I tell Sue?"

"Tell her it's taken care of."

The door slammed shut, and Santana grinned. Their plan might work after all. Brittany was a lot less subtle in her excitement, nearly toppling Santana over with her exuberance.

Santana started down the hall, half hugging, half dragging Brittany behind her. "All according to plan, babe. Now, we get downstairs and show up with the crew, Sue will see us, and we'll put part two into motion."

A quick text, and they joined the Cheerios rabble just as they entered the large glass doors of the convention center. Brittany caught Jane's eye and winked, moving with Santana to stand beside the freshman. Their entrance didn't go by unnoticed and Sue gave them a glare.

"Pierce! Lopez! Front and center."

They exchanged worried glances, but had no choice. They walked up to Sue, trying to look as casual as possible.

"Where have you two been?"

The wheels of Brittany's brain started to turn, but Santana was already ready with a response. "I was feeling a little carsick, Coach, so Britt went with me to the bathroom while I freshened up."

Sue raised an eyebrow, and the distrust was evident on her face. "So, you pawn your side project off on me? I'm sitting her babysitting a Cheerio that's not even a Cheerio. You waste my time, and I waste yours. Drop and give me twenty!"

Neither of the girls argued, dropping their duffle, and firing off twenty quick pushups. They were back on their feet after a minute, slightly shiny and out of breath, but at full attention.

Sue narrowed her eyes, and nodded her head. "Get your teams ready."

"Yes ma'am."  
"We're on it."

Sue looked even more suspicious after the simultaneous replies, and skulked away, leaving her assistant Becky to grab her bags. Santana left Brittany to organize the girls on their squad, and followed Sue.

"Coach! Coach, hold on a second."

Sue turned without a word, and Santana could feel the heat of the gaze burning a hole in her forehead, but she straightened her shoulders and approached Sue. She looked around frantically. It was now or never, the timing was imperative, but not seeing who she was looking for, Santana reached Sue's side.

"What it is?" She barked.

Santana thought quickly, but nothing occurred to her. She sent a prayer up to the shenanigan gods and started talking.

"Um, so, I just saw something that I thought you should know about."

Sue cocked an eyebrow. Santana could tell that her patience was just about to run out. She happened to know for a fact that Sue got nervous before meets. Granted, she was the best, but she was only the best because she was actually really good at her job. Also because she obsessed about the minutiae of their every part of their performance. So, even at something like the regionals (which didn't mean much in the long view of things), Sue was thrumming with excitement right below the surface. Santana would have to tread lightly or else Sue could definitely go off the deep end. She tried again.

"It's Roz."

Sue's brow unfurrowed, and her face became an impassive mask. Only a single eyebrow raised gave any indication that she was interested in what Santana had to say. But two years of working under Sue Sylvester had given Santana a deep understanding of the woman. She pushed forward.

"I saw her. Here. About ten minutes ago as we were parking."

"What was she doing?" The question was much lower, but no less fierce.

"I don't know, exactly. She looked like she was looking around for something. Or someone." Santana let the unsaid implication hang in the air.

There was a moment's pause, and suddenly Santana didn't know what to expect. It was possible that she misread the situation. Perhaps Sue wasn't as easy to read as she imagined. It was almost as though Sue had read her thoughts when she responded, taking an angry step towards Santana.

"Alright, Lopez. I've had enough of your games. You think you and Pierce can pull on over on me-"

Santana was pretty sure she saw her life flashing before her eyes. Sue wasn't yelling, but there were flames around her words that scorched the air around her. She glanced desperately behind her to where she knew Brittany was still standing, and noticed her frantically pointing and waving to a place over their heads. Sue noticed it too, and looked up, and there, as if summoned by Santana's earlier prayer, was Roz Washington, marching with confidence towards one of the rooms of the conference center. She was walking in a glass covered hallway, that sheltered her from Sue's bellowing voice, and luckily for them, made no attempt to look around as they watched her path.

"What the-?" Sue breathed.

Santana took her opportunity. "That's what I was saying, Coach! I don't know what she's up to, but it's not good, whatever it is. First she gets into it with you about the showers and now she's showing up here? This whole building is for the cheer competition, so why would a swimming coach be here? It doesn't really make sense."

Sue reached back, without looking, and grasped for Santana's mouth, covering it with her hand. Santana barely repressed an annoyed shake, and left the hand where it was, rolling her eyes when she was sure that Sue wasn't going to turn around.

"I don't know what's going on, but I need the ruthless half of my co-captaincy focusing on the competition. Brittany handles Roz. I want you where I can find you."

Once Santana nodded her agreement, Sue let go of her face, and turned back around, marching after Becky. Brittany ran over to join Santana, and they tried to act as nonchalant as possible.

"I can't believe that worked." Brittany breathed, doing only a passable job of keeping from leaping into Santana's arms. "What did she say, Santana?"

Santana took a step away from Brittany, looking around quickly. "She said you're on Roz. That should give us more than enough time to do some wiggling. The only thing is she said she'll be keeping a closer eye on me. I'll have to be a bit more careful than we planned."

"You can handle that. We've got this."

Jane spoke up behind them. "It's almost nine."

Santana nodded, and moved towards where the other Cheerios were walking. Sue had secured their team their own room for prep in the building. It was a privilege afforded only a few teams, and only those with a lot of sway. The room was sparse, but there were chairs, and plenty of the Cheerios sat against the walls on the floor, warming up. There were groups scattered about the floor, and Brittany, Santana and Jane huddled in a corner, not really speaking much but keeping an eye on everybody.

"How long before you think they get back?" Jane asked, her focus shifting between the conversation and the doorway.

Santana laid on the floor, with Brittany between her legs, and they pushed into each other doing their stretches. "I dunno. It should be long though. Don't worry, they accepted all the changes."

Brittany leaned into Santana's leg, pushing it back to warm up the muscles there. "They were coming from Sue, so it's not like they had a lot of choice."

Jane nodded, and watched as Quinn strolled over.

"Getting comfy there, ladies?" She said, eyeing the girls who were practically in a pile on the floor.

Santana was up on her feet in an instant, advancing on Quinn. "What the hell, Fabray?! You were supposed to get us up to date on Sue's movements. You were supposed to let us know when you were nearby. You screwed up."

Quinn raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "I got a little turned around. So, sue me. What's it to you anyway? Why is it so important?"

Santana backed down at this, crossing her arms petulantly. "Nothing. It's just I didn't want us to be late, and we were worried about getting ready to meet you all here in time."

Quinn looked over the three of them carefully, her eyes narrowed. "Well, you got here, so what does it matter?"

"It doesn't exactly matter. I just-I dunno, when you say you're going to do something, you sure as hell need to do it!"

Santana finished her rant rather lamely, and Quinn shook her head. Her reply was cut off as the doors of the room slammed open, and Becky strolled in. Becky had been with the Cheerios since she was a freshman, but served as the manager for the girls, rather than on the squad. Santana was convinced that the only reason Becky had gotten the job was because she reminded Sue of her sister, who had Down's Syndrome just like Becky. But she turned out to be surprisingly good at the job. Santana wasn't surprised because she had Down's, but because Becky was probably one of the laziest people she'd ever met (not to mention pretty rude). However, it seemed that position had given her new confidence, and purpose, and Santana had to admit, it suited her well. She approached their small group in the corner, not bothering with a greeting before launching into her speech.

"Listen up, you stupid bitches. I've got the schedules, and Sue says it's up to you to distribute them to the girls. Don't mess up or Sue will have your ass."

Becky shoved the papers into Santana's hands, and stomped off, and back out the door.

"Pleasant as always, Becky." Santana called after her, and handed a copy of the schedule to Brittany and Jane, smiling widely as she did so. She looked at Quinn pointedly, depositing the rest of the copies in her hand. "You heard her, Fabray. Get this out to the girls. They need to know the schedule."

Quinn rolled her eyes and stormed off, shoving pages at girls as she went.

Brittany knew that the smile on Santana's face matched her own. She pumped her fist. "We did it! It's perfect. This actually might work after all. The schedule matches up so I only miss the first half of one match! And then with travel time we should be good for the rest of the day."

Jane grimaced. "How about you walk me through it once more so I don't forget anything."

"You'd better not forget anything. We've only been through it a million times."

"It's okay, San. One more time won't hurt anybody, it's good. We can refresh ourselves."

Santana melted at this, and giving Brittany a gentle smile, turned a harder line towards Jane. "Okay, newbie. It's pretty simple. At regionals there are four categories that the Cheerios are participating in: Junior Squad Large and Junior Squad Small, and Senior Squad Large and Small. The small groups have eight Cheerios and the big ones have fourteen. Each performance is two minutes and thirty seconds. Usually, the groups are arranged randomly, but with changes we've managed to pack everything in a way that A) Gives us the most room to get around, B) Won't tire out the other Cheerios, and C) Won't raise Sue's suspicions. Brittany's Math thing-"

"It's the 31st annual Greater Mid-Western Mathematical Match, Santana."

"Okay… Brittany's Greater Mid-Western Mathematical Match-"

"We just call it the GM cubed."

Santana sighed, but turned a half grin towards Brittany. "Nerd."

"Yup!"

"So, the GM cubed is at a location about eight minutes away by car. We know that she's got matches from 9:00 until 11:00, and I'm driving her between the two spots."

"She doesn't trust me with her car."

"This is actually pretty accurate." Santana said, raising an eyebrow. "Anyway, we already know she's going to miss the first half of the first match, but we'll get her there in plenty of time for the rest. I'll drive back and be here without Sue looking for me, and to help out with the Junior Squad Qualifiers, which are happening first."

"And in the meantime, Sue thinks Brittany and I are on the lookout for Roz." Jane interrupted.

"Which you're actually going to be doing, by the way." Brittany said. "Roz is still in the building, and the last thing we need is for the two of them to meet up. You're going to keep an eye on Roz for as long as she's here. You'll stay in contact with us using the radio."

Jane nodded.

"So," Santana continued. "At 11:00, we'll be back here, and are in time for the first of the Senior Squad qualifiers, which is at 11:15. Small qualifier at 11:20. It'll give us enough time to get stretched, and have the pre-meet berating with Sue. After that we've got Senior squad semi finals here, and Sue will want us nearby at all times, but we'll head back over there at 12:15, when lunch starts here. Then when the Britt's team makes it to the semi-finals-"

"If, Santana. It's not a done deal. We're doing against Dalton, and prep school kids are no joke."

"But they don't have Brittany Pierce: Super Genius on their team, so they're probably going to have some trouble."

Brittany blushed at that, ducking her head. "Oh, San-"

"When they win?" Jane cut in, trying to move the plan along.

Santana knowing that time was short, didn't do more than give Jane a rather hard look. "Well, then it's back over there, 12:30 to 1:30. That'll be our break time over here. Back here around 1:30, and then small squad senior finals at a time that'll have to wriggle, we're hoping 1:45, and back over there to GM cubed in record time for the finals, which start exactly at 2:00."

Jane rubbed her temples. "It's a lot to go over."

"Don't worry, Jane." Brittany said happily. "That's what Santana is here for. She's got this down to a science, and it'll run like clockwork, you'll see."

Brittany patted Santana's hand, and they exchanged smiles.

"But what if something goes wrong?" Jane countered.

"Nothing will go wrong. I think this is the best idea that either of us have come up with. It's bound to be flawless."

Santana sobered up a bit. "Don't jinx it, Britt, but you might be right. You two get going, and I'll meet you in the parking deck."

Brittany and Jane nodded, and took to their feet. Brittany gave one last squeeze of Santana's hand before leading Jane out of the room. She pointed down the hall.

"Sue is going to be up there with the other coaches. We'll walk by, and then double back so I can meet Santana. All you have to do is pop up here and there so she sees you around. Not too much, because then she might ask you where I am."

Jane nodded. "Got it."

"Good. Let's go."

Brittany lead them further down the hall, until they passed the room where the coaches were getting their instructions. Sue was pointedly not listening to the discussion, and noticed the two girls right away, narrowing her eyes in their direction. Brittany gave a small wave, and then continued on, not bothering to look for a reply, probably because she knew she wouldn't be getting one. She put her head down, marching towards the stairs, and parted ways with Jane, racing down the steps.

Surprisingly, Santana was leaning up against the car when she arrived, looking fitfully at the time on her phone. She looked up as she heard Brittany approach, and smiled nervously.

"It's now or never, I guess."

Brittany didn't bother to reply, giving a small smile herself, and sliding into the passenger seat.

They didn't talk much on the drive over to Ohio State (where the GM Cubed was being held. Brittany grabbed Santana's hand, and held tight, rubbing small circles into the pad of her hand. Brittany used her free hand to stroke the flour baby that Santana had brought with her, and placed on Brittany's lap once she'd gotten in the car. It was probably the most blatantly they'd ever defied Sue before, and it was bound to make them both nervous. As much as they liked to pretend that they weren't afraid of Sue, the idea of her finding them out, and then waterboarding them (which she had threatened to do on several occasions), made them nervous to get on her bad side. Or her badder side. Regardless, when they pulled up to the building that housed the GM Cubed competition, Brittany barely gave Santana time to say goodbye, kissing her soundly on the lips, and bolting out of the car. Santana rolled down the window, holding up the flour baby.

"You forgot somebody."

Brittany leaned back in through the open window and kissed the baby, grabbing Santana's hand and bringing it to her lips as well.

"Wish me luck."

"You don't need it." Another moment passed and it was all Brittany could do not to climb back into the car. But Santana quickly pushed her hand away. "Now go! You've gotta get in there before the half!"

Brittany nodded, and turned, pulling on her jacket, and barrelling through the doors of the Ohio State Department of Mathematics. She and Santana had mapped out the routes the night before (luckily for them the schedule was posted online well in advance), and Brittany knew that their first match was against Thurston High School and that was in room 3142. She turned quickly, and rushed up a flight of stairs and then another. She also knew that she had already missed most of the first half, but she'd still have to book it if she wanted to hit her cue. They had planned it all out with the team over the course of the week. Lauren, Missy, Matt and Dave (her teammates on the McKinley High Mathletes team, Totally!Irrational) were happily on board with their plan. On one hand, Brittany was hands down the best player on the team. On the other, they got to make a fool of Sue Sylvester, and probably avoid any of the backlash if they were caught, and that was a proposition that few could turn down. They'd all agreed that once Brittany showed up at the game, they'd have her sub in, and then finish as many games as they could in the meantime. Brittany had kept them in the dark on how much Santana was helping out with everything. They only knew that she had a 'friend' driving her between the university and the convention center. They probably assumed it was Mercedes, and though Mercedes had texted her to wish her luck earlier that day, she really hadn't heard from her since. It was a little odd. Mercedes was usually the one (besides her parents) most excited about Brittany being a successful cheerleader. Though Mercedes usually supported her no matter what she did.

Brittany skidded to a halt in front of rom 3142, and peeked inside the open door. Her team was seated on the far side of the room, with Thurston's team, The Square Roots on the other side. Both sides were wearing looks of intense concentration, and the announcer was starting a new round as she approached.

"A runner runs around a circular track in the same amount of time that a slower runner takes to run around a smaller concentric circular track. The faster runner is twice as fast as the slower runner, and is running on a track of circumference 120π meters. How many meters apart are the two tracks?"

As the woman was speaking both teams wrote furiously, desperate to catch each word. Once she'd finished, both groups circled in, and began chatting quickly. Brittany sidled into the room, and sat down next to their coach, Mrs. Griffin.

Sarah Griffin was 34 years old, and loved being a teacher. She'd signed up to coach the math club because she also loved math, but the rag tag nerds who made up her group of misfits were the reason she stuck around. She loved them. She had been one of three black kids in her advanced calculus in college, and the only girl, and knew a thing or two about being the odd one out. It only served to endear her mathletes to her even more. She pushed them as much as she could, but she also knew when to lay off and let them do what kids did best. It made her pretty popular. When she'd found out about Brittany Pierce's amazing math talent, she'd put all her energy into recruiting her. It turned out to be the best decision she made for the team. Brittany was more than just good at math; she was a revelation. She was thinking about things in ways that Mrs. Griffin could barely imagine. And the best thing of all was that she really enjoyed it. It always seemed that she was having fun and supporting the other kids. So, when it came down to choosing a captain, it had really been a no brainer. She found it hard to share Brittany with the Cheerios, and Brittany's feud with Santana Lopez had left her distracted at best, and almost poisoned that one time at worst, but she was worth it.

That's why she looked rather surprised when Brittany sat down next to her. She had trusted Brittany, but had to admit she'd been losing hope when the game started and there was no sign of her stalwart captain. And all of a sudden, here she was, creeping in like a phantom.

"How's it going?" Brittany whispered, careful to keep her voice down so she wouldn't be a distraction.

Brittany had kept Mrs. Griffin a bit in the dark, while telling more to her teammates. The reason was simply plausible deniability. She and Santana hadn't wanted the blowback if their plan failed falling on Mrs. Griffin. She was pretty much Brittany's favorite teacher, and actually a really good coach. Of course, her looking more than a bit like Nicole Beharie didn't hurt Brittany's crush on her at all either. So, Brittany was pretty intent on protecting her. Unfortunately that meant that, she'd been kept out of it, and when Brittany showed up suddenly, she was a bit through for a loop.

"Brittany!" She squeaked, covering her mouth quickly when a few annoyed glances turned in her direction. She ducked her head, and lowered her voice. "Sorry, sorry."

She gave Brittany a nervous look. "What are you doing here?" She hissed. "I thought you weren't going to make it."

"I can't explain everything, Mrs. G, but I'm here now. And I'll be here for the most of the next games."

"Most?"

Brittany went to answer, and the buzzer rang, signifying that McKinley had an answer ready. The announcer pointed to Totally!Irrational. "Your answer please."

Acting as Captain with Brittany out of the picture, Lauren spoke up. "Is the radius, um, 40?" There was a quiver in her voice, and everyone sat on the edge of their seat as they waited for the answer.

Brittany groaned quietly.

"I'm sorry, that's incorrect. Square Roots, would you like to steal with an explanation?"

The captain of the Square Roots nodded confidently, and they discussed among themselves for a moment more.

"30. The outer track has radius 60, and so the inner track will have a radius of 30!"

"That is correct!" The announcer said excitedly.

The room broke out into an excited buzz, and Mrs. Griffin pinched her nose.

"Danggit." She whispered. "We're down."

"Not for long." Brittany whispered back.

Mrs. Griffin looked like she wanted to respond when a loud buzzer but off their conversation.

"And just like that, the first half is over! The Square Roots lead Totally!Irrational, one sixty to ninety five!"

Everyone clapped, and the groups started milling around. Brittany was on her feet in an instant, but held herself back from rushing towards the group, following behind Mrs. Griffin who still had a rather dazed look on her face. Everyone was there. Lauren Zizes, Dave Karofsky, Matt Rutherford, and Missy Gunderson. They were all from different backgrounds, and interests, but they all loved math.

Upon seeing Brittany approach the table, Dave's eyes went wide and he clutched his head, squeezing his eyes shut and shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Ow! Oh, no! My head!"

He slumped down in the chair, and further onto the floor, groaning as he went.

Lauren and Matt rushed to his side, and pulled him to his feet, and Missy jogged over to the judges table to have a word. A quick wave towards Brittany, and a discussion later, the announcer stepped up to the podium.

"We have a change up. Due to injury, Brittany Pierce will be taking over for Dave Karofsky on the McKinley High team, Totally!Irrational."

The coach from Thurston looked like she wanted to argue, but a firm look from Lauren (who in addition to being a player on the math team was the star of the school's wrestling squad) shut him up. They gathered Dave, and took him back to the classroom that had been reserved for McKinley high, a few rooms down. Once they were all inside, Mrs. Griffin leaned hard against the closed door.

"What the hell was that?"

The group looked guiltily around before Brittany took a step forward.

"It's all a part of my plan. To be able to come today. You know, with the cheerleading thing happening at the same time. I'm subbing in for Dave, and I should be here for the next three games. I'll miss the last one, but I can't help that. And then if we make it through, I'll be back for the semi-finals."

"Dave just faked an aneurysm!" She pointed accusingly at the boy in question.

"I'm fine really, Mrs. Griffin."

Mrs. Griffin rubbed her temples and sighed deeply. "You know what? I really, really don't want to know. I just have one question. Does Sue know about all this?"

She gestured vaguely towards Brittany who was covering up her Cheerios' uniform with a bright pink hoodie.

"No." Brittany responded sheepishly.

"Oh my god. She's going to have my head on a platter."

"Don't worry, Mrs. G, we've got this! I mean, I've got this. Well, we've all got this. I'll be at all of the games and Sue will be none the wiser."

"And you know this because…"

"Well, it's kind of complicated. And I don't want to tell you too much. You know, in case Sue get's wind of it. But don't you worry."

Mrs. Griffin shook her head. "I want to believe you, Britt, I really do, but I'm definitely a bit unsettled about the whole thing."

Lauren walked over, and patted her coach on the shoulder. "Just trust us. We've got everything under control."

Mrs. Griffin sighed again. "I don't know if I have much of a choice. If I go out there now and tell them about all this I doubt McKinley will get to play at all. And Figgins is already on me about funding for next year. And technically we haven't done anything wrong or illegal."

"Exactly!" Brittany said, grasping onto the uncertainty in her voice.

Mrs. Griffin looked at Brittany square on. "Are you ready, Britt?"

"I was born ready."

"Then let's get back in there, and do some math."


	6. Chapter 6

With their star brain by their side, Totally!Irrational came back to defeat Thurston High, and their streak continued vs. Dalton Academy and Crawford Country Day. Their final opponent, Carmel High School, was probably going to be their toughest yet, and Mrs. Griffin had acknowledged that in her speech to pump them up. They'd put their hands in a pile and on the count of three shouted the quadratic equation in unison, and high fived each other. This one was in the bag.

The match started well enough. Matt got a tough one about the number of people that could fit into lifeboats, and they took the lead early. Brittany was brimming with confidence after they came back from the half, and she was feeling more confident than ever.

She didn't notice Santana sliding into the back row, as she had been very careful not the call any attention to herself. She'd been running around the cheer competition like a madwoman: chasing jobs for Sue, putting out small fires with routines here and there, and making sure that if Sue even looked like she was going to ask about Brittany, she had an excuse ready to go.

Santana was watching the junior squad prepare their routine when her walkie had crackled to life.

"Lima Heights, come in. This is Electric Lady."

She pulled the radio to her lips, and turned away from the group.

"Electric Lady, this is Lima Heights."

"It's almost time, and I've got a sighting on Sue on the east side. You're clear."

Santana looked at her watch. She'd almost lost track of time. Thank goodness Jane had been there to run interference.

"Good looking out. I'm making my move."

She left the supervision to another upper class Cheerio, and made her way to the exit, careful not to draw any undue attention to herself. She was almost out the door when she heard a soft purr behind her.

"What's the rush, Lopez?"

Santana turned, and found Quinn glaring at her, the corners of her mouth turned up in a humorless smile. Santana still hadn't forgiven Quinn for her earlier slip up about the bus, plus she was in a rush. She had no time for Quinn's games.

"Beat it, Fabray. I'm busy."

"I've noticed." Quinn snapped.

"What's your problem?"

"What's the big hurry?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing? Then where are you going?"

Santana made a big show of rolling her eyes to show her exasperation. "If you must know, Quinnie, Brittany needs me."

"And since when do you care that Brittany needs you?"

"Since none of your business. Why don't you mind your own?"

Santana moved past Quinn, and made no attempt to listen to her response. She wasn't even sure what she would say if Quinn pushed her. The last thing she needed was a suspicious Quinn Fabray. They'd been together in the Cheerios long enough for Santana to know that Quinn was a dangerous foe. She was not only very smart, which Santana could counter, but also very patient, which was a trait that wasn't necessarily one of Santana's strong suits. Though, as much as she worried, she couldn't afford to spend anymore time thinking about it, and before she knew it she was out of the convention center and down the road to the school, slipping into one of the seats, and watching Brittany be amazing at everything she touched. She had never been to a math competition before, but it was actually pretty interesting. Both sides worked together on problems that were read aloud by an announcer. They would scribble on a piece of paper, and whisper furiously to one another before one person would answer. Brittany was usually the person to answer for the McKinley team, and it was clear they all looked to her for leadership, and guidance. Santana beamed with pride. She hadn't really had anything to do with Brittany's math brilliance, but she couldn't help but feel like she'd helped in some significant way. And she supposed she had. If they hadn't come up with the plan then Brittany wouldn't have been able to attend.

Carmel missed a question, and Santana couldn't help but notice the smirk on Brittany's face as she sat back with confidence. She felt a little spike of heat as she watched her whisper confidently to her teammates. It always kind of turned her on when Brittany took charge and knew exactly what she was doing. She crossed her legs and tried to focus on the murmurings of the crowd around her, and the cooperation of Totally!Irrational.

"Totally!Irrational: Can you give us an answer?"

Brittany nodded towards Lauren who leaned forward excitedly. "Yep! The answer is five and one seventy eighths over the square root of thirty three and sixth eighths!"

There was a pause, and Santana found herself leaning forward in her chair, her breath caught in her throat.

"That is…" There was a rather obnoxious pause from the announcer as she tried to draw out the tension even more. "Correct! With that right answer McKinley High steals the lead from Carmel!"

The room exploded into furious activity, as people around Santana chattered at a furious pitch. She noticed Mrs. Griffin smiling at her team, and giving them an enthusiastic thumbs up. Santana had to smile at the way that Brittany sat back with confidence, giving Lauren an enthusiastic pat on the shoulder, showing her support. Then a moment later her eyes scanned the audience, and she caught Santana's eye.

Brittany ducked her head down quickly. She hadn't expected Santana to be there in time to watch her match at all. It was just past ten thirty, and they had almost a half an hour before they had to be back for their squad's qualifier. She felt the butterflies in her stomach start to twirl as if they were at a rave. She looked back up and saw the gentle grin that was on Santana's face; the one that said, 'I'm so proud of you, and I'm so happy for you, and I'm probably going to kiss you senseless later'. It was one that Brittany was definitely a fan of. She smiled even brighter, and waggled her eyebrows at Santana quickly. There was a sharp poke to her ribs.

"Ouch!" Brittany yelped, grabbing her side.

"Focus!" Hissed Lauren.

Brittany grimaced and turned her attention back on the question that was being asked. There wasn't much time left in the half, and they had already gotten the last five in a row. Now all they had to do was answer the next question correctly and in the final half they could stay ahead and win no matter what. Brittany felt pretty confident. The theme of the questions and the speed of the moderator guaranteed that they'd have more than enough time. Of course, that relied on the hypothesis that she didn't end up getting distracted by Santana. She snuck another peek at the object of her affection, and noticed the rather glazed look that swept over Santana's features as she sat ready to listen to the difficult question. A tip of pink showed from between her lips as she furrowed her brow in concentration. Brittany giggled lightly to herself, and seeing a frown pointed at her from Lauren, turned away from where Santana sat, and snapped her attention to the announcer.

"Carmel's chance for a comeback is slipping away, but there's still time. Now, for the next question: In a 3-by-3 grid, all squares except the center square are filled in with integers such that only two distinct integers occur, the sum of the eight integers is 111, and for each of the four sides of the figure, the sum of the three integers along that side is 42. What are the two integers in the grid?"

Brittany did a few quick calculations in her head, and watched as Missy and Matt put their heads together. She noticed a number out of place, and pointed to their scribblings.

"There. The sum of all the entries has to be odd." She mumbled, and Missy nodded, scratching some numbers out and writing more below.

Brittany looked over to the Carmel table carefully. They looked properly stumped, but Brittany didn't underestimate them. They had a knack for making stupid faces, but still coming away with the answer. She nudged Matt, bobbing her head at him. He took the hint and pressed the buzzer, calling attention to their table.

"Yes, Totally!Irrational?"

Another soft nod from Brittany and Matt spoke up, clearing his throat. "Well, if you take the two integers as A and B then 5A + 3B = 111 and 2A + B = 42, meaning that A = 15 and B = 12."

His voice turned up a bit at the end, making the answer sound more like a question, but Brittany wasn't worried; she would have set them straight if the answer hadn't been correct, and she knew that it was right. She'd been going over a similar question that they'd gotten during practice a few months prior. It was around the same time that Santana caused the fake eclipse and almost got their class kicked out of that planetarium. She couldn't help but smile a bit at the memory. Only a month before she would have gotten angry at about how Santana had pulled it all off, but now she could only be kind of impressed. She looked at Santana, who was leaning forward slightly in her chair, anticipating the answer from the judge. She was so cute when she worried. There was a little crease in between her eyes and that little pout that almost wanted to turn into a frown.

"And that answer... "

Brittany rolled her eyes again at the announcer.

"Is correct! McKinley pulls away! That's going to be the first half. When we come back, we'll finish this match, and see who moves on to the semi finals!"

The audience clapped, and Brittany bounced happily over to Ms. Griffin as Santana came up on the other side of her. Unfortunately, Ms. Griffin caught sight of Santana before Brittany could get there.

"Oh no. No, no, no, no way. What are you doing here? Sue sent you didn't she? Or are you just here to ruin things for Brittany again? Well, I'm not going to let you do it. I refuse to-"

"Ms. Griffin, it's cool. Maybe we can talk about this somewhere else?" Brittany broke in. There was a quiver in her voice. She hadn't thought about how her math coach might react to Santana showing up, but wasn't entirely surprised. As far as she knew, they were still arch enemies.

Ms. Griffin looked skeptical, but she nodded, and followed Brittany back to the classroom that McKinley was operating out of.

"I've got to miss the last half of this match."

"Britt-"

"Lauren and everybody are explaining it to the judges now. That Dave is feeling better, and we want him to play again before the day is over. I've got to get back to the cheerleading competition. If I don't leave now, Sue is definitely going to notice I'm gone, and that's, you know, not a good thing at this point."

Ms. Griffin tried to follow the conversation, but just ended up waving vaguely at Santana. "And what about her? What is she doing here? Need I remind you about the time she tricked you into thinking it was daylight savings time?"

Brittany tried to hold in a sigh. "Ms. Griffin-"

Santana took a step forward, and reached for Brittany's arm, stilling her. "I know I messed up, Ms. G, and that wasn't cool. You don't have any reason to trust me. I know that too. But for the last month Roz and Sue have had us working on this project, and we've kind of, I dunno, grown closer. I'm not going to let her lose her spot on the Cheerios. Not if I have anything to do with it. And this is important to her, too. I know that now."

Ms. Griffin looked down to where Santana's had still lay on Brittany's arm. Her brow wrinkled, and then her eyes went wide.

"You two are, what? Dating now?"

There was a moment of silent consideration between the two girls, and Ms. Griffin was quick to interrupt.

"Look, Britt-" She reached for Brittany, and pulled her closer, keeping a wary eye on Santana. "I don't care who you're dating or not dating. Heck, I don't even care if you're on the Mathletes or not. I just care that you're doing well, that you're happy, that you're not doing something you regret."

She looked over at Santana. "The same thing applies to you, Santana. Even though you've made your math teacher cry more times than I can count. I'm still a teacher at McKinley. I'm supposed to be making sure that you're learning, but even more, I just want to make sure you're satisfied, and you know that if you need to talk, you can always find me."

Brittany nodded, and leaned forward, wrapping Ms. Griffin in a big hug. Santana hung back, but she ducked her head, taking a deep breath.

"Thank you."

"Yeah, thanks Ms. Griffin! We won't let you down. We've gotta go back for two of the routines and prep, and we should be back in plenty of time for the semi-finals."

"We've still got to win this match. That's the only way we're guaranteed a spot."

"We will. We're up so much that they can't win at this point. It would take a miracle."

Ms. Griffin eyed Brittany, quizzically. She'd learned a while ago not to question her star player when it came to things that could be calculated. As the day went on there were more and more things that she didn't want to know.

"So, you'll be back for the semis?"

"I'll have her back in plenty of time, Ms. G, I promise."

Ms. Griffin sighed and looked at Santana. "You know, it probably shouldn't, but there's something about seeing the two of you together that actually gives me a lot of confidence. I'm trusting you here, Santana. This isn't about you and Britt, this is about you and me. You owe me. You've caused a lot of trouble over the past year or so. If you want to make it up to me, this would be the perfect time."

Santana nodded seriously.

"And the most important thing is that Sue never, and I mean ever, find out about this. We will take this to our graves. If we want to keep our brains on the inside of our bodies."

"Trust us, Ms. Griffin. She will never hear it from us." Brittany promised.

The door opened and Missy peeked in, sheepishly. "Um, Ms. Griffin, they're ready to start the second half. Is, um, everything okay?"

"It's cool, Missy. I told her that Dave would be coming back in." Brittany said.

Missy looked at Ms. Griffin, who nodded. "It's okay. I'll be there in a second."

Missy grinned nervously and left, closing the door behind her.

"Well, we'd better be off." Santana said, looking at her watch. "The schedule is a little tight."

Ms. Griffin watched carefully as Brittany gathered her things, and headed out the door as Santana followed. She walked behind them, and then gently tugged on Santana's sleeve.

"Don't forget what I said, Santana."

Santana nodded grimly. "We're not losing her anytime soon. I promise."

Ms. Griffin started down the hall, but turned back a moment later to watch the two cheerleaders leave the building. Santana jogged a few steps to catch up with Brittany who was walking ahead of her, and she slipped a hand through her arm, tugging her closer. She couldn't miss the smile that spread over the two girl's faces as they looked at one another. There was no mistaking what was happening between the two of them. She was glad, of course. One of McKinley High's biggest rivalries was coming to a close. It was momentous. It was historic. But it was also dangerous. With so much of a history of bad blood between them, could it last? Only time would tell. She turned back down the hall. She had to keep her eye on the ball, but she couldn't help but send some good vibes their way. If their plan was going to work, they'd need all the help they could get.

\

"Where have you two been?"

Sue's accusation made Brittany and Santana stop in their tracks. They had sped across town (careful to keep it under the speed limit just in case), and had barely made it through the convention center doors before Sue was breathing down their necks. They turned to answer when Jane strode towards them confidently.

"They were looking for me, Coach. I got a little turned around looking for the Junior Squad qualifiers, and-"

Sue waved off Jane as if she couldn't be bothered to listen to the freshman anymore. "Have you seen Roz?"

"Actually, Coach," Jane piped up again. "I just saw her in the third annex."

Sue raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "Why in the world would she be over there? You know what? I don't care. Just make sure that she stays away from us. Jane, you get on Roz. I want eyes on her at all times. Brittany and Santana, you start warming the girls up for the large qualifiers."

Brittany gave a sharp salute. "Yes ma'am!"

Sue snarled, and stormed away. The girls waited until Sue was a bit away before relaxing, turning and walking quickly towards the Cheerio's prep room.

"How did it go?" Jane said, excitedly.

"Santana, you didn't tell her? You're supposed to be keeping her updated." There was a playful note in Brittany's voice and she wrapped her arm around Santana's.

"Well, I didn't know until we were in the car. But it's not like she needed to worry anyway. You're on the team. Of course you all are going to knock it out of the park."

"Well, we won, Jane. Three out of four games, and now we just have to wait on the final score to know if we're going to make it to the semis."

"Like I said, piece of cake."

Santana pulled herself out of Brittany's embrace, and after looking around quickly to make sure no one was looking, planted a soft kiss on her cheek to chase her frown away. "Sorry, babe. We've got to put on our game faces."

She opened the meeting room door, holding it open for Jane and Brittany, and her face actually slipped into a firm glare. She waited until Brittany had settled into the room before she spoke up.

"Listen up, hoes. We have about _**forty five minutes**_ to transform your sloppiness into perfection. Line up before I have to start smacking bitches!"

Everyone snapped to attention, and got into position. Brittany couldn't help but notice the lazy frown that Quinn pointed towards Santana. She didn't have time to dwell as she organized half of the girls and lead them through their drills. It was consuming work. They had been working on every step for months, making sure that it was perfect, and there wasn't a single misstep. But they all knew what winning meant to their coach, and they also all wanted to do well. There was something about being on the winningest squad in the country. They wore the badge with pride, and wanted to do everything they could to maintain it.

Brittany did manage to find a few moments to look over at Santana while they were working. She admired the way her girlfriend was so focused, running everyone ragged. She'd brought Jane over to watch her group work, pointing out areas of improvement, and noting inconsistencies. Brittany was really proud of the way she'd taken Jane under her wing. Even if she didn't want to admit it, Santana was proud of Jane, and took every opportunity to work to make her a better cheerleader. She smiled as she watched Santana kick open a Cheerio's split. That really was the way she was. She was all bark and no bite. In fact, she was probably more dedicated to the Cheerios than Brittany was. Santana wanted this. She wanted to win and she loved every minute of it.

She tore her gaze away from the other side of the room, and focused on the girls around her. Their routine was flawless no matter what nitpicky things Santana seemed to always spot, but she pushed them anyway for a few more minutes, finally letting them take a break and have a seat. She strode quickly over to her bag, pulling out her phone, and smiled when she saw that there was a message from Lauren waiting for her there.

 **Hurricane Lauren: We're in! We won the game, and are playing in the semis!**

Brittany quickly typed her reply.

 **B. Pierce: Santana called it! Tell everybody good job! I'll be back after lunch.**

 **Hurricane Lauren: I have no idea what you see in that girl. Remember Operation: Green Thunder? It took you a month to get the food coloring out of your hair.**

 **B. Pierce: No matter what you say about her, she is creative. ;)**

Brittany locked her phone, slipping it back into her back, and marched over to Santana seriously.

"Co-Captain Lopez, can I talk to you for a second?"

Santana made a big show of rolling her eyes and tapped one of the other girls to take over the drills, pulling Jane along with her to follow Brittany out into the hall. Brittany waited until the door closed behind them before she charged at Santana, leaping into her arms. The movement (combined with that fact that Brittany was not only taller, but about thirty pounds of pure muscle heavier) knocked Santana back and almost off her feet. The shorter woman recovered, wrapping her arms around Brittany, and returning her smile.

"I told you, Britt! I told you!"

"What's going on?" Jane asked sheepishly after a few moments of watching the celebration.

Brittany climbed down from Santana's arms, and wrapped her own around her girlfriend.

"We made it to the semi-finals! We actually might have a shot at this."

Jane smiled and gave Brittany a high five. "Awesome! We're almost there. Now we just have to do as well on the senior squad large and small groups."

"We'll we've got that in the bag with Santana here." Brittany patted Santana on that back. "Now it's your turn not to worry, babe."

Santana gave her a sideways grin. "Easier said than done."

"Now who's being a Nervous Nelly?"

Santana gasped with mock offence. "I have never in my life said the phrase 'Nervous Nelly', and I resent the implication!"

Brittany only laughed in response, opening the door and pushing Santana bodily back into the meeting room. The two girls separated and Jane followed Brittany this time. She liked Santana, and loved the way that she always took the time to teach her something new, but there was something magnetic about Brittany. Jane wasn't into girls, but she could see why Santana had fallen for her. She was bright and sunny, open and loving, and she seemed to always be having a good time. Her coaching style couldn't be more different from Santana's, but it was just as effective. They were good apart, but together were much better, Jane knew that now. If she learned anything chasing the two of them around, it was that.

Brittany wrapped an arm around the shoulder of a cheerleader, changing her position slightly. "If you lead with that arm, you'll be firmer on your tumbles, and can recover faster. Don't let Sue see you wobble."

The other girl nodded, and focused on keeping her arms straight. Brittany joined Jane and watched the girls from the sidelines. Every so often Brittany would speak up and offer some gentle correction, but mostly stood off to the side, arms crossed, watching quietly.

"What happens now?"

Brittany sighed. "Now we have to focus on the large squad routines and nail them."

Jane sensed a note of apprehension in Brittany's voice. "Are you nervous?"

"Yeah, a little. I always get a little nervous before these things. I love to dance, but when it becomes graded and scored, I dunno. It changes for me."

"I kind of figured that Santana would be the one to get all bent out of shape about competition."

"Oh yeah. Santana is **way** worse than me. You see how she keeps manhandling the Cheerios?" Brittany gestured towards where Santana was almost lifting a girl up to bring her into position.

Jane nodded.

"That's how she gets when she's nervous. Very, um, specific how things are."

"She gets kind of mean, I guess."

"Well, yeah. Maybe. But she's doing it because she wants to be the best. And she's almost as proud as Sue when everything goes well. I knew that even when we hated each other. She just has an interesting way of showing it."

"Ah." Jane said, noncommittally.

Brittany looked over, and bumped Jane with her shoulder gently. "You don't buy it, huh?"

"No, I do. I see it, you know? She's always first to get there and last to leave. And she acts like she hates it, but putting on the uniform makes her feel invincible. And she's always trying to teach me about how to be a proper Cheerio."

"She likes you too."

"Really? You think so?"

"Sure. She wouldn't bother if she didn't."

"Hmm." Jane seemed to think on that for a moment. "I guess."

There was another beat as Brittany gave some instruction to a pair of girls who were working on their tumbling.

"I hope we do as well on this "

Brittany folded her arms, and frowned slightly, looking at the girls as they flipped. After a moment she smiled and gave them a thumbs up.

\

The next hours were busy as they nailed the large and small senior squad routines. They even managed to get a slight nod of recognition from Sue. The extra hours that Brittany and Santana had spent together leading the Cheerios showed in the discipline in the ranks. There were a few minor missteps, but for the most part they were a well oiled machine that hummed along perfectly. They went through the four events, and once they were done it was time to get Brittany back over to the campus. That escape went much smoother than the original; there wasn't a trace of Sue anywhere. The parting on the way back might have evolved into an impromptu make out session, during which Brittany found herself in Santana's lap, but the schedule was way too tight, and she found herself on the curb rather quickly as Santana pulled away. Brittany raced inside and found herself getting back to her teammates in just enough time to start their matched against Carmel. Carmel, Thurston, Dalton and McKinley were the only teams that made it to the semi-finals, and though they were getting closer to victory, Brittany wasn't ready to relax yet.

In the meantime, Santana headed back to run interference with Sue. They sent a message to Roz on the burner phone, leading her away from the convention center. Of course, she hadn't been happy, but they figured it was better to have Roz out of the way in the end, because keeping her away from Sue was proving to be quite the struggle. Santana had focused in on the last half of the junior squad routine when Jane came up behind her.

"Push, 1..2..3..4.. Do not waste time! Let's go!" Santana yelled, counting out steps with a smack of her hand.

"Um, Santana?"

"What?" She snapped, turning on Jane quickly. When she saw who it was, her glare softened dramatically. "Oh. Jane. What's up?"

"I just got a text from Britt. She says they're up against Dalton now, but they beat Carmel and Thurston. She said that because of the other matches, they don't even have to beat Dalton to move on to the finals, I think. But honestly, she started talking in numbers, and it was kind of hard to follow the rest."

Santana looked wistful for a moment. "Yeah, she does that. That's good news. I'll leave to get her now, and we will have plenty of time for Sue to see us wandering around, and helping out the other girls. And then her championships are at three."

"Awesome. Should I go look out for Sue?"

"Yeah, get a bead on her, and let me know where she is. Then I can make my move."

Jane nodded, and with a quick glance around, headed out of the room. It only took a few minutes of searching to find Sue. Jane just had to listen for the yelling and throwing of chairs that inevitably broadcasted Sue's location. Things were especially loud when Jane showed up, and she was careful to stay out of sight. After giving the go ahead to Santana, she hung out for a few more minutes, and then headed back towards the other cheerleaders. She passed by the door where Santana and Brittany had insisted on the changes to the schedule earlier that day, and almost ran head first into Quinn Fabray coming out of the door.

"Watch it, fresh meat." Quinn snapped.

Jane apologized quickly, and moved on, desperate to be on her way. She hadn't had many interactions with Quinn, but while she was icy but polite when Brittany and Santana were around, she was downright hostile with the underclassmen. She'd heard that Quinn was a bit of a mystery, but Santana had told her that the other cheerleader was not to be trusted, and Jane was certain not to.

She went back to the meeting room, and sat with a group of the newer girls. They knew that she'd been hanging with Brittany and Santana and that brought a certain amount of respect. But mostly the other girls seemed to just like Jane. They opened up to her, and seemed to trust her. She watched the preparations for another few minutes when the doors to the meeting room opened and Sue strode in, with Becky at her side. The room quieted immediately as girls scrambled out of the way, creating a path for her to walk through. Jane was a bit surprised to see Quinn come in behind the two of them, looking like the cat that just caught the canary.

"Shut up, everybody, Sue's got something to say." Becky yelled to an almost silent room.

The rest of the voices died away, and standing shoulder to shoulder with some of the other Cheerios Jane couldn't help but notice the way that Quinn avoided looking in her direction.

"There's been a change. The finals for senior squad has been rescheduled. Instead of three o'clock, we'll have it at two thirty. Not up to me, and it's very inconvenient, but it'll have to do." Sue looked at her watch and looked around the room. "Where are the nerd and Conchita von Tatas? They are supposed to be here running the girls through their drills!"

Jane tried not to show her panic, but Sue looked ready to explode. She took step forward. "Coach?"

Sue's focused her gaze onto Jane, lasering into the tiny freshman. "What?"

"I, um, ahem. So, Santana was here, but she heard that Roz-"

"To hell with Roz. I'm trying to win a national championship here! First these absolute buffoons mess with my schedule, now I can't find my co-captains-" She rubbed her temples. "I am going to the roof to throw things at everybody I see. By the time I come back if I am not seeing my co-captains, everybody is off the team. I'd rather go with my trained monkeys idea than deal with this for another year."

Sue marched towards the door, and opened it with more force than was necessary. "Becky, get my throwing eggs."

The door slammed behind them, and Jane wasted no time making her way towards Quinn. "Do you know what this is all about?" She accused.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Who exactly do you think you're talking to?"

"Everything was fine, and now I see you coming out of the room, and-"

"If I were you, I'd watch my tone. You're looking at the soon to be captain of the Cheerios, and I can have you off my squad with a snap of my fingers." Quinn smiled devilishly.

Jane was shocked. She wanted to tell Quinn exactly what she thought of her, but her thoughts turned. She had to warn Santana and Brittany before it was too late. She left Quinn mid self satisfied smirk, and rushed out the door, bringing her radio out of her pocket.

"Lima Heights, come in Lima Heights. This is Electric Lady." She waited a moment and tried again. "Lima Heights, Lima Heights, this is a 911, Electric Lady, come in!"

There was a crackle, and a voice came over the waves, with a giggle.

"Jane, Santana is a little indisposed at the moment. But I can help you."

Jane sighed, and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Britt, you're supposed to be using the code names."

"Oh, I forgot. Yes, Electric Lady, we hear you. Lima Heights is a bit busy helping me celebrate our semifinals win. This is Unicorn at your service."

Jane looked around to make sure no one was listening. "This is a 911 situation, ladies. The schedule has been changed, I repeat, the schedule has been changed."

There was a short scuffle and Santana crackled onto the line. "What do you mean a schedule change?" She demanded.

"I dunno. I saw Quinn coming out of the scheduling room, and then Sue came in and said we're going on at two thirty instead of three and-"

"Two thirty? Goddammit."

There was another short scuffle, and then Jane heard Brittany's voice. It's was measures more serious than only a moment before.

"We're in the parking garage and we're coming up now. Meet us in the lobby please, Jane."

Jane shoved the radio in her pocket, and walked quickly down the hall, almost getting creamed by a door that swung open in her face. She dodged but ended up flat on her back and it was a few seconds before she opened her eyes.

"Why don't you give a message to our soon to be ex-captains for me?" A voice purred.

"Quinn-"

"Three years."

"What?" Jane said, scrambling to her feet.

"Three years I sat under those two while they tore each other apart. Not anymore."

"Quinn-"

WIthout another word Quinn skulked away, leaving a clueless Jane in her wake. Jane wanted to go after her, and ask her what she was even talking about, but she knew that Santana and Brittany were waiting on her, so she took off down the hall. She arrived in the lobby without a second to spare, Brittany and Santana waiting impatiently for her there.

"Where have you been?!" Santana almost yelled, attracting the attention of some nearby cheerleaders.

Brittany put a calming hand on Santana's arm, and drew her closer. "Jane, thanks for getting down here. What's happened?"

Jane looked rather out of sorts, and the last thing Brittany wanted was for her to have a panic attack. Or for Santana to have a panic attack for that matter. She tried to talk in her most soothing voice, and diffuse the situation. It wasn't working.

"Sue comes in about ten minutes ago and says that that our semifinals have been rescheduled. We're supposed to be having them at two thirty and not three o'clock."

"Did she say why?" Brittany broke in before Santana could interrupt.

"No, but I saw Quinn coming out of the scheduling room-"

"Fabray." Santana seethed.

"We don't know if she's responsible-"

"Who else would it be, Britt? She's been vying for the top spot for as long as we've been Cheerios, and I guess now she sees her chance. Who knows how she figured all of this out."

"Well, we don't have time to dwell on it. We have to figure something out. The math finals are at two. And they're going to take at least half an hour."

"Congrats on making it, by the way, Brittany." Said Jane, sadly.

"It won't matter in the end if we don't figure this out. I guess I'll have to stay here. I can't leave to go back. There's not enough time." Brittany hung her head dejectedly.

Santana put her hands on Brittany's shoulders, bringing them face to face.

"Did you just tell me something about not freaking out."

"Santana, even with your driving skills there's no way we can get back in time. Look, I trust my team. They're just going to have to get through this one without me."

"But they shouldn't have to! Let's go, we're going to those assholes in scheduling and we're getting this fixed. Now."

She grabbed Brittany's hand, tugging her down the hall, and back towards the scheduling suite. Jane scurried behind, barely keeping up. She imagined that if this was a cartoon, Santana would have steam coming out of her ears.

They got to the door, and Santana knocked loudly for much longer than was absolutely necessary before the door swung open and the annoyed looking woman who they'd spoken to earlier appeared. When she saw them, her eyes went wide.

"Oh no. No no no. I'm not dealing with another one of Sue Sylvester's minions!"

She made to close the door, and Brittany stuck her foot inside, practically forcing her way in. She didn't look particularly perturbed, but it was as insistent as Santana had ever seen her. Santana and Jane followed quietly behind.

"What happened?" Brittany asked in a low voice.

"W-what are you talking about?"

There was a touch of panic in the woman's voice that replaced the malice, and several people surrounding them stopped to listen.

"The schedule. We were scheduled for our finals at three and now it's been moved up. I want to know why."

Brittany was advancing slowly on the woman, and stood a good deal taller. The woman looked up to Brittany with wide eyes, and took a step back. Jane reached out a hand to touch Brittany's shoulder, but Santana stopped her, shaking her head gently.

"A-a blonde. Another blonder. Shorter than you. She came in and told me there was another change. And then Sue came in and nearly took my head off! But it was too late, I couldn't change it even if I wanted to."

Brittany stared down at the woman for a moment longer before Santana joined her.

"There's gotta be something you can do. We just need a little more time." Santana hated the whine in her voice, but she was feeling a lot more desperate than she was willing to admit.

The woman looked at Santana as if she were the only person who could save her from the wrath of Brittany S. Pierce (which was probably true), and made her case.

"I swear! We're booked up. Unless there's a huge pyramid accident, we're stuck. Look, I like you three much better than that Sue Sylvester, or the scary looking ball of seething rage who came in earlier. You seem like nice people, even though I'm probably more legitimately afraid for my life than I've been all day. But, I can't do anything. My hands are tied."

She spoke quickly and looked up at Brittany, giving her a pleading look.

Santana turned to Brittany who looked like she was going to argue, but finally relaxed, her shoulders sloping down just a bit, and her face relaxing into a soft smile.

"Well, I guess that's that then. Thanks for your help!" She chirped, taking hold of Santana's hand and leading her out of the room. Jane scrambled behind them as Brittany burst out the door, and into the hall.

Santana held tight to her hand, and watched Brittany carefully. Normally, she'd be worried that someone was watching them being too friendly, but thanks to Quinn, it seemed that they were up the creek without a paddle, and it seemed silly to worry about getting found out now. She rubbed a hand over Brittany's arm as she lead them into an empty hallway.

Brittany sunk against the wall with a resigned sigh. "It's too bad. But, I know they can do it. Lauren's been practicing so much, and Matt and everybody and I-"

"You worked so hard, Britt! You deserve to be up there as much as anybody on the team." Santana said, tugging on Brittany's hand.

"It's fine, Santana. Anyway, things aren't that bad. I'll go call Mrs. Griffin and let her know that I won't be back. Then we've got to get ready for the semi finals here. If our heads aren't in the game, Sue is going to know that something is off. She'll catch us before we even get going. And I don't want Sue on my case after all this."

Brittany pulled her phone out of her pocket and took a few steps away from Jane and Santana.

Santana paced up and down the hall near Jane . "Quinn Fuckin Fabray! I don't know how she found out, but she's been acting really squirrely lately. I should have known better than to trust her."

"There's got to be something we can do. Maybe we can fake an accident. If they think you're hurt, then you'll have to postpone the semi finals."

Santana stopped pacing and turned to look at Jane. "There is something."

She rushed off down the hall before Jane could get another word in, and out of sight. She had to do this. She didn't have a choice. No, it wouldn't be comfortable. No, Brittany may not like it, but desperate times and all that.

Santana ran towards the coaches prep room, and threw open the door, walking in. She didn't bother offering up an explanation. The other coaches saw the Cheerios logo emblazoned on her chest, and knew that she belonged to Sue Sylvester. She marched over to the section of the room that Sue had claimed as her own (easily ten times the size of the space used by any of the other coaches). It was easy to spot as someone (probably Becky) had covered the area in red and white, and set up Sue's championship trophies everywhere. She used them as a way of intimidating the other coaches and more often than not, it worked. Santana zeroed in on Sue's bright red mini fridge and knelt in front of it, opening the door, and peering inside. She found what she was looking for, and took out a bottle, bringing it close to her chest, and turned back to head out the door.

She barely waited until she'd passed the first corner before she was opening the bottle, and downing the contents. Sue's cleanse burned going down as much as it always had. The metallic tang was still as present as ever, but she was happy to say that it was no longer chunky. Thank goodness for small miracles. She'd never had more than a few tablespoons before. Just that small amount was enough to make sure that she didn't eat anything for at least a day. She leaned her head back draining the bottle, and came up with a gag. This was followed by another minute of a hacking cough that echoed down the busy hallways. Many people noticed, but luckily for Santana, no one stopped.

She heard footsteps behind her, and woozily turned to meet Jane and Brittany.

Brittany looked down at the bottle in her hand, recognizing it instantly. She grabbed the bottle away from Santana's weak grasp. "Santana! What are you doing? Did you **drink** all this?! Do you know what Sue puts in these things?!"

Santana didn't have a chance to respond before the busy lull of the hallway was broken by a loud siren. The group turned, and Sue was advancing on them quickly, Becky at her heels. Brittany could see Santana's legs about to give out from under her, and she beckoned for Jane to prop her up, and she supported her other side. They were just situating themselves when Sue reached them.

"I have used up all my throwing eggs. Why are the two of you out here instead of warming up my Cheerios?!"

Santana gave a weak cough. "I'm not feeling very well, Sue. I needed to go for a walk."

Sue advanced a few more steps until she was practically nose to nose with her co-Captain. "I don't care if you're dead, Lopez! You are supposed to be warming up my Cheerios, and that means I want to see your corpse in there doing warm ups!"

Santana didn't reply but wobbled unsteadily for a few seconds, her eyes crossing and uncrossing a few times before she focused in on Sue again.

Brittany pulled Santana a bit closer to her to steady her. "Sue, she's really not feeling well. It's ok, I'm going to let Jane take her, and then we'll-"

"Did I ask for a comment from you, Rain Woman?"

"Coach-"

Sue turned back to Santana, and didn't spare another glance at Brittany who was futilely pleading their case. She grabbed Santana by the collar, shaking her with every syllable to strengthen her point. "You will get into that room. You will warm up my Cheerios. Or you will never, and I mean, never, enjoy another moment of happiness or peace for the rest of your miserable life. Do you understand me? I will hang your head in my trophy case. Are we clear?"

Santana wobbled forward, and seemed lost in the moment.

Sue shot a glance towards Brittany. "What, is she high?"

Brittany didn't get a chance to answer before Santana pitched forward with a retch, an arch of vomit cresting perfectly towards Sue's bright red track suit. At this point, several things happened in rapid succession:

The first were several screams that came from Brittany, Jane, and Becky. Sue made a noise as well, though it would more likely be compared to a bellow. Jane took a step back, loosening her hold on Santana, while Brittany pulled tighter, struggling to keep her up.

As for Santana herself, much like a sprinkler than has been knocked off kilter, she went off balance, and keened too far to one side. This didn't stop her explosion, just changed the direction.

The movement of Santana mercifully saved Sue (probably more mercifully for Santana), and Becky was able to bring up the clipboard she was holding just in time to keep her face mostly covered, but her clothes were not so lucky.

The room seemed to freeze around them as everyone stopped what they were doing to watch the unfolding carnage.

"What in the hell?" Becky screamed.

With that outburst everything seemed to spring back into action, and the room exploded with activity. Sue pointed Becky down the hall.

"Hit the showers, Becky." She turned to her cheerleaders and gave them a strange look. "Get her cleaned up and have Jane take her to the nurse. I want a full report as soon as you have it. Then Brittany, go to the meeting room. I'm going to get talk to those Nazis in scheduling room and get our event pushed back."

There was an edge to her voice, but it didn't make Brittany's hair stand on end like it normally would, in fact it almost wanted to make her relax like she knew that everything would be okay. That fact alone made her even more freaked out than ever. She gathered Santana up as best she could and turned her towards the nearest bathroom. Becky gave her a withering look before heading off, but Sue just pointed her assistant in the right direction (careful not to touch her), and followed a distance behind.

Brittany got Santana into the bathroom, and luckily there was chair right inside the door. She sat Santana down, sent Jane to go bring some paper towels, and knelt down at Santana's feet. There was still a dazed look on Santana's face, and Brittany looked up into her eyes desperately.

"Santana? Santana, are you okay? Please say something."

There was a moment while Santana's eyes seemed to focus again, and she looked up at Brittany, squinting as if she couldn't quite see her correctly. There was a moment after their gaze connected that Santana smiled cheekily.

"We did it!" She said, weakly.

"Santana, how could you possibly think that was a good idea?"

"Britt, it worked! They're pushing back the time, and now you can go to your championship. We did it."

"Santana, I'm not going to be able to concentrate if you're here dying because you drank a thermos full of Sue's concoction. There had to be another way."

Santana patted Brittany's arm carefully. "Well, you know me, Britt, I'm a woman of action and I-"

Her sentence was cut off with a pained look. Santana covered her mouth quickly and pointed towards the bathroom stalls. Brittany was able to get her to one just in time, and another _incident_ was narrowly avoided. She patted Santana's back, and held her hair out of the way as a familiar ringtone blasted from her bookbag.

"Jane, grab that for me, would you?"

Jane did as she was told, and reached for the phone, putting it next to Brittany's ear.

"Hey, Mercedes, sorry, I'm a little busy at the moment."

Santana took that moment to retch and Brittany had a bit of trouble making her best friend's voice out.

"Mercedes, MJ, what was that? I can't hear you."

"I just wanted to say good luck, Brittany! Can you hear me now?"

Mercedes chose that moment to come in crystal clear, and Brittany could help but notice a familiar sound in the background. A sound that she would have recognized anywhere. A bullhorn that she would have recognized anywhere.

"Mercedes, where are you?" Brittany asked suspiciously.

There was a rather obvious pause and a muffled sound came through the receiver.

"What? Sorry, Britt, I can't really hear you, I think you're cutting off!"

There was a deeper voice in the background, and Brittany heard a shuffling again.

"Mercedes Jones, if you hang up on me, I will never forgive you!"

Another pause, and more shuffling.

"Brittany-"

"Are you here in Columbus? And you didn't tell me? What is going on, MJ?"

"I'm not-"

"And don't say you're not here at the conference center, I can hear Sue yelling in the background."

There was another slight tussle, and then a hushed conversation.

"Brittany, where are you? I'm coming to find you." Mercedes said, after a moment.

"Women's bathroom, 1st floor, right off the atrium. I'm dealing with a bit of a-, um, situation."

"I'll be right there, don't move."

"I doubt I have much of a choice in staying put, but okay."

Brittany nodded to Jane who took the phone from her ear, and she returned her attention to Santana, who'd started a new round of heaving.

"What was that all about, Brittany?"

"I'm not sure, but I guess we'll find out in a little bit." She smoothed back Santana's hair from her brow, sticky with sweat. "How're you doing, babe?"

Santana's scratchy voice echoed from the inside of the toilet bowl. "Actually feeling better every time I puke. I think that stuff is actual poison."

"Yeah, and I can't believe you chugged a whole bottle of it. Santana, you could have killed yourself."

Santana croaked a few times in response. "I'm sorry, Britt. You know me. I act before I think. But, I'm glad I'm probably not going to die."

"'Probably' being the operative word."

Santana sat hunched over the bowl for a few more minutes, and after a time Brittany picked her up handily and carried her back to her chair, wrapping a jacket around her shoulders. Then a few more moments of fretting on Brittany's part before Santana pushed her hand away.

"It's almost time for you to get back. We've gotta go."

She made to stand up, but Brittany easily pushed her back down into the seat.

"You're not going anywhere. You can barely stand."

"But Britt-"

"And I'm **not** driving your car. What if I get in a wreck, you'll never forgive me-"

"Britt, you're not going to get in a wreck."

Santana tried to stay calm, but she could tell that Brittany's mind was working a mile a minute, and coming up with the next problem before they'd even faced it. That was her job. She reached up, grabbing Brittany's hand, and running a calming hand down her arm.

"You can totally do this. Even if I'm not up to driving-"

"Brittany?"

Mercedes rushed into the bathroom, swinging the door wide in her wake. She looked down at Santana, noticing the tender hand on Brittany's arm, and shook herself, bringing her attention back to her friend's face.

"What's the rush, Aretha?"

"Be nice, San." Brittany said, warningly.

Santana shrugged, and wrapped herself tighter in the parka that Brittany had given her.

"Santana, Jane, hey. Hey Brittany."

Mercedes looked about as bashful as Brittany had ever seen her, which wasn't a hard record to beat as Brittany had never seen her bashful before. Nervous, sure, but not shy. That didn't seem to be in her DNA, and yet there she was. Mercedes, who was without a doubt the bravest person that Brittany knew; shaking like a leaf.

"Mercedes-"

"I'm sorry, Britt."

Mercedes voice was low, and Brittany could hear the slight waver behind it. Her eyes got wide, and she took a step towards her friend.

"Mercedes, I just want to make sure that everything is ok with us. I'm not mad at you or anything-"

"I know, Britt. I'm just sorry, okay?"

Brittany didn't wait another moment before wrapping Mercedes up in a big hug, choking off her next comment. They stood there for a moment, while Santana looked off uncomfortably to the side before Jane cleared her throat.

"Brittany, I don't mean to break up your moment, but you've got about 20 minutes before you've got to be on your way."

"On your way where, Britt?" Mercedes asked.

"It's how I'm doing the math competition, and the cheerleading. Santana has been going crazy all day driving me."

"It isn't a big deal." Santana piped up.

"Well, it is to me. Thank you, Santana." Mercedes said, laying a hand on Santana's shoulder. "I've kind of been MIA, but I should have been there for my best friend. Thanks for standing in."

Santana only shrugged again, and turned back to Brittany. "I'm feeling better now, Britt, I can totally drive you."

"I don't think so, Santana." Brittany stayed in Mercedes grasp, but edged over back towards her girlfriend. "But, 'Cedes is here now. She can take me."

Mercedes looked uncomfortable again. "I'd love to, Britt, I really would, but I, um, didn't drive today."

"Then, how'd you get here?"

Mercedes looked down, and then gave a quick squeeze to Brittany's hand. "Hold on for a second."

She rushed out the door, and the three girls looked at each other quizzically for a few moments before the door opened again, and Mercedes strode in, pulling Mike Chang by the hand. His other hand was over his eyes, and he didn't seem happy.

"'Cedes, this is the ladies' bathroom!"

"Britt, I'm sorry! I should have told you. I wanted to tell you when I heard you were with Santana, but I just, I dunno, I'd been hiding it for so long, and I wasn't exactly what we were doing, and I just wanted you to know that I really like Mike, and I hope-"

Her rather long winded apology was cut off by Brittany who bounded over and wrapped Mercedes in another hug.

"Are you kidding? MJ, I think we need to make a pact. If we find someone who makes us happy, we should tell the other person right away. No more secrets, ok?"

Mercedes only nodded, and hugged Brittany tightly. Mike, peeking through his fingers, let his hand fall away from his face, as he noticed Santana sitting in the chair, looking slightly off color.

"What's up, Lopez? Long time no see."

Santana gave him a nod, but didn't say anything, taking a few moments to get unsteadily to her feet.

"I mean, if you don't want to forgive me, Lopez, cause I was a giant dick, I get it, you know? I messed up, and I railed at you, even though I was just as bad-"

"Will you can it already, Chang? We were both assholes. I probably should have tried a bit harder, and it sucks that I didn't, and I'm, you know, sorry. Or whatever."

Mike gave Santana a strange look and then held out his arms, waving her over.

"Get over here."

Santana gave a weird half smirk and marched over, collapsing into Mike's arms. There was a moment where no one said anything, but Santana looked over Mike's shoulder, and saw Brittany and Mercedes, hands clasped, mouthing silent "Awwws" that made her feel too self conscious to hold on anymore. Mike sensed her discomfort and stepped away, half catching her again when she wobbled on her feet.

"I guess I'm still not back to 100%."

"What's wrong, San?" Mike said, concern coloring his voice.

Brittany walked back over and put a hand on Santana's shoulder, helping her back to her seat. "She drank a lethal dose of Sue's cleanse in an attempt to get us back on schedule. It worked, but I have the feeling her small intestine will never be the same."

"And now Britt needs a ride back over to her math competition before she misses her next match." Mercedes said.

Jane broke in. "The finals!"

"Well, then. We've gotta get her over there so she can win one for McKinley. I drove today, so, if you want, Brittany, I can give you a ride." Mike gave a sly look at Santana. "If you don't mind me consorting with the enemy, Santana."

Santana swung her arm in Mike's direction, but didn't hide the smirk on her face. "Shuddup, Mike."

"That's really nice of you, Mike. I'd love to catch a ride."

"Awesome! Cedes, you stay here with Santana, and make sure she doesn't, I dunno, die, I guess. You look like death warmed over, sister."

Santana raised a middle finger towards Mike and grimaced, not bothering with a verbal reply.

"Jane are you going to be ok? You're going to have to help Mercedes with Santana-"

"I will be ok, Britt!" Jane said with a smile.

Santana attempted to stand up, and was on her feet for a few wobbly moments before she almost collapsed, Mercedes helping her back down to the chair. Brittany walked over and placed a concerned kiss on the top of her head.

"You're going to have to help Mercedes with Santana, and make sure that Sue does not come looking for me."

"Easier said than done." Jane mumbled.

"Probably, but you have my full support. I'll keep you posted on the championship, and I'll be back as soon as I can."

Mike gave a quick squeeze of Mercedes hand, and a whispered goodbye, but Santana and Brittany took longer with their farewells, Brittany kneeling down at Santana's feet, finally putting her head in Santana's lap, while Santana kissed the top of her head.

"I take it we don't have much time, Brittany, we should probably go."

"Yeah, Britt, you're not going off to war. You're going to win one for ol' McKinley, and you'll be back before Santana can lose her lunch again." Mercedes joked, giving her friend an amiable shove.

"Yeah, Santana. This is still the woman's bathroom. I'm not supposed to be in here."

"It was a medical emergency! Plus, your girlfriend was getting all nervous and guilty and whatnot."

Brittany laughed, getting to her feet. "It's cool, MJ. Anyway, I just want to make sure that she's at least feeling a bit better."

"Don't worry about me, Britt. Go take the title."

Brittany smiled, giving a quick salute, and with a kiss to Santana's forehead, put her arm through Mike's. I guess this will give us some time to get to know each other. Play nice you two!"

They were out the door a few moments later, and there was a moment of awkwardness while Santana, Mercedes and Jane tried to figure out what to do in Brittany's absence.

"I guess we should get over to the meeting room." Jane squeaked, not exactly sure of herself.

Mercedes nodded firmly. "Let's do it then. Jane, you get over to the other side of Santana."

"I don't need help" Santana said firmly. "I can, actually, handle myself."

"Somehow, I get the feeling that Britt will never forgive me if something happens to you."

Mercedes reached under Santana's arm, to try and give her some leverage to stand up, but her hands were swatted away.

"Mercedes, stop-"

"Look, Santana. I don't think we've ever had a good word to say about each other, and if you really pushed me, I could come up with about a hundred different reasons why Brittany could do better than you. "

"What the hell, Jones?"

"But," Mercedes put her hand on Santana's shoulder to try and keep her still. "But, I know that Brittany likes you. And she likes you a lot. And, I've known her for a long time, and happen to know that she's an excellent judge of character. I don't know what happened between the two of you, though, I assure you I'll be getting the full story sooner or later, but if Brittany says you're good people, that she's found out the real you, that's good enough for me. Just, don't give me a reason to regret it."

There was a moment of indecision before Santana sat back with a huff.

"Fine." She said, crossing her arms. After a second, she uncrossed them, and looked up at Mercedes hopefully. "Then we're good?"

Mercedes gave a quick nod. "Yeah. Just remember what I said."

Santana nodded as well, and carefully put out a hand to Mercedes, who helped her up from the chair.

She brushed off her uniform, checking for stray particles from her earlier explosion, and finding none on the pristine Cheerios uniform, gave a small fist pump. "Well then. Let's go show Sue what Cheerios are really made of."


	7. Chapter 7

Thanks for reading! I wanted to thank everyone who suggested the name for the flour baby. I had something else in mind, but the one I chose was too good an idea to pass up. I appreciate all of the reviews, and kind words. I also want to get a shout out to all the fic writers, artists, and others who are keeping Brittana alive through the fandom. You da real MVPs! Follow me on Tumblr for more Brittana goodness, drabbles and faster updates on future stories. Thanks!

* * *

Getting to know Mike wasn't all that weird. Brittany had spent a long time not trusting him, but now knowing Santana the way that she did, she could see the things they had in common. They were more alike than even they would probably have wanted to admit. Mike was quiet in a way that Santana wasn't, still, while Santana had that energy bubbling underneath her skin all the time. It's one of the things that Brittany really loved about her, but she could see why Mercedes had been attracted to Mike. Honestly, she was just glad that Mercedes had found someone that she really cared about, and who cared about her. The drive over was downright pleasant, though she was really worried about the team (both the cheerleading squad and the mathletes), but she figured she'd leave the worrying to Santana, and try to focus on the issue at hand.

In what had to be the world's most perfect timing, her phone dinged just as she was stepping into the department of mathematics, and the distinctive ringtone (as well as a a fluttery feeling in her stomach) told her all she needed to know about the sender.

 **Baby Mama: Good luck, Britt! You don't need it, but I wanted to say it anyway. 3 3 3**

Brittany smiled to herself and fired off a quick message of her own.

 **B. Pierce: Thanks! I'll never turn down some good luck, especially from someone as hot as you. Give our little girl a kiss for me!**

Brittany stuck the pocket back on her phone as she reached the classroom that was holding the members of her team. As the door opened, she noticed their downcast faces, and couldn't miss the opportunity to cheer them up.

"What's going on, McKinley?!" She yelled, pumping her fists excitedly.

Upon seeing their Captain, the whole room burst into a flurry of activity, with everyone rushing to greet her. Brittany had to wiggle herself out of Lauren's arms before she was crushed/hugged to death, but she patted her arm encouragingly.

"Good to see you too!"

Ms. Griffin pushed her way towards Brittany. Her smile held a hint of uncertainty, as she grasped Brittany hopefully.

"I thought you said you weren't coming back? I thought you couldn't make it? That's what you said on the phone."

"I know, Ms. G, and I'm sorry about that. There was some _confusion_ about our scheduling, but we got it figured out, and here I am! Santana really took one for the team, so I owe her big time."

Missy smiled widely. "We all do! We were already waiting for the death knell without you to lead the way, Britt."

Brittany turned serious and faced her classmates. "You guys have gotta be kidding me! You are awesome, and have been getting better and better every game! I don't doubt that you could have totally killed this thing, even if I wasn't around."

"I'm sure we could have, but I'm glad we didn't have to." Matt said.

Ms. Griffin picked up her dry erase marker and moved towards the board. "Well, there's no need to think about that now, because we've got Brittany back and we're ready to go. Let's do some warm ups, we want everyone bringing their A game if we're going to beat Dalton. "

"They're no joke." Dave offered with a grimace.

"No, they are not. But Brittany is right. The team is not just about her. Every single one of you has something important to bring, and every one of you is vital to our success. It's all of us together that make a team, and that's how we're going to take this championship. Together."

Everyone cheered at that, and they turned to focus on the numbers that Ms. Griffin was writing on the board. Brittany shifted in her seat a few times and tried to bring her attention to the board, but her mind kept slipping back to Santana. Was she recovering from chugging Sue's Cleanse? Had she stopped throwing up? What about Mercedes? Was she doing well with Santana and Jane, all by themselves? She had completely phased out when she felt a pinch in her side.

"Ouch!"

"Get your head in the game, Pierce." Whispered Lauren. "You'll see your girlfriend soon enough."

Brittany smiled, batting at Lauren softly. "All right, all right, fine. I'm focusing."

She turned back to Ms. Griffin, but a part of her head was still across town, hoping that everything was going well.

\

Jane and Mercedes had done their best to prop Santana up against a wall, and she was not doing a terrible job running the Cheerios through their paces. But more than concentrating on their moves, there was general pandemonium about the scheduling fiasco. Sue was nowhere to be found, no one had seen Brittany in what seemed like forever, and now there was a non-Cheerio running around trying to be Santana's eyes on the ground.

"How are you feeling, Santana?" Mercedes asked, while they both had a free moment in between wind sprints.

"I'm better. I can finally breathe without that burning sensation between my lungs." Santana answered, her voice losing a bit of that raspy quality that had shown up on account of all of the vomiting.

"Good. What do you think? How do they look? All I know about cheerleading is what Brittany would fill me in on from time to time. But Britt always made whatever she did seem flawless."

"Yeah, she does that." Santana said, a faint smile on her face.

"Well?" Mercedes began.

"Oh, yeah." Santana snapped herself out of the reverie. "Well, we look ok. Honestly, since I'm out of commission, and Brittany isn't here, we can't really practice like we'd like, but when she and Mike get back I'm hoping we can really bring it together."

"Are you going to be able to do it, Santana? I mean, you're not exactly at 100%. Can you really flip and climb to the top of the pyramid and all that stuff? In your condition?"

"Oh please. I once went to Nationals with the stomach flu and had a personal high scoring performance. I can push through the pain. That's never been a problem. I just need to make sure that we're all where we need to be."

Jane, who had been standing guard at the front door, looking for Sue (or any other dangers that might once again derail their plan) rushed towards them.

"Santana-" She breathed, her eyes wide in alarm.

"What's-"

Before they could say anything else in way of explanation, a voice rang out from across the room.

"Santana!"

Sue approached them, her face red with rage. Becky followed closely behind and gave Santana a wary look.

"Where is Brittany?"

Jane took a step forward. "Coach, she had to run and-"

"Enough of this! I'm not accepting your excuses, and I'm certainly not accepting your pathetic attempts to keep me from knowing what's going on. No one **farts** on this squad without me knowing about it. Do you think I started this team yesterday? Do you know how long I've been doing this? Since before you were a twinkle in your mother's eye. And now you think you're going to pull a fast one on me?"

"Coach Sylvester-" Mercedes started. She took a step forward.

"And what in the hell is **she** doing here? I've told Pierce time and time again I don't want to see her loser friends hanging around my squad, bringing down the competence factor every time they open their idiot mouths."

At this point, the conversation descended into chaos. Mercedes, incensed at the insult shot off a few choice remarks of her own. At the same time, Sue ignored her outright, and demanded to know the location of her co-captain. Jane was doing her best to try to calm the scene, and Becky wouldn't stop giving Santana the evil eye.

Santana thought to Brittany, who was probably now kicking ass at Mathletes. She thought about cheerleading practices together, taking their flour baby on walks in the park, late night homework study sessions. She thought about how off the rails this whole thing had gotten. She thought about how much she would miss Brittany if things went awry. The only thing keeping Brittany at WMHS was the Cheerios. Santana knew that. She couldn't let her lose that. She clenched her teeth.

"Enough!"

Everyone stopped to look at her, the surprise evident on their faces.

"Look, she's not here because I sent her away."

The stares continued, and Mercedes' eyes went wide in alarm.

"I tricked her, okay? I've been trying to get rid of her all day, and she finally took the bait. I figured if she wasn't around then you'd have to put me in charge. I was trying to get her out of the way."

"Santana-" Jane started, but Santana held up a hand.

"Brittany had no idea what was going on. She was just trying to help." She looked at her watch. "She'll be back any minute, and we can start really preparing. I'm sorry, Coach, okay? I just figured if you saw how good I was at handling things without her around, you'd have to make me head cheerleader."

Sue didn't bother to hide her skepticism. "So, you're telling me that's what's been going on all day? So, Roz was a part of this?"

"No, Roz didn't know either. It was just me. I did it. I managed to move everybody around. And, yeah, it was a shitty thing to do, but now I'm sick and the jig is up. I can't do this without Brittany."

Sue eyed her up and down. "And what exactly do you get out of admitting it now?"

"I knew how much trouble I would be in when this all came out. I figured I'd get out in front of it a bit. Look, I never meant for things to go this wrong. I'm sorry."

By now, the room had completely focused on the conversation happening between the co-captain and her coach, and everyone's mouths dropped open in surprise. No one had ever heard Santana apologize for anything before. Especially not to Sue, with whom she seemed to share a pretty adversarial relationship.

Sue managed to hide her surprise and turned her head quickly. "Fabray!"

Quinn sidled up quickly to Sue, and couldn't hide the smirk on her face. "Yes, Coach?"

"You're going to finish warming up the girls. Santana, you and your _friends_ get Brittany back here as soon as possible. If she doesn't make it back here for the finals, they will never find the body. As for the rest of your deceit, I will deal with you later."

Santana turned to go with Jane and Mercedes on her heels, but turned when Sue began to speak again.

"Oh and Lopez?"

"Yes Coach?"

"It will not be a pleasant experience. Trust me."

Santana swallowed audibly, and lead her friends out the door. Sue wasn't one to make threats lightly. She didn't know what was in store for her, but she could only hope that she'd have the use of her legs when it was all said and done.

She kind of doubted it.

Jane looked at her watch. "They should be back any minute. I hope it's good news. I mean, they would have texted us otherwise, right?" She looked from Mercedes to Santana. "Right?"

Mercedes shrugged. "I dunno, Jane. Maybe. But we have bigger fish to fry." She turned to Santana. "Sue is going to murder you. You know that right?"

Santana gave a shrug of her own. "What's done is done."

"What you did. Just now. For Britt. Santana, I can't believe-"

"Just drop it, okay? I did it and I'm glad, but that doesn't change the fact that Sue is going to grind me up and feed me to stray dogs. I'm dead. I'm so dead."

There was a disappointment in Santana's voice, and Mercedes longed to comfort her in some way. She wasn't sure if it was because of the way that Brittany felt about her, or what. She settled for a hand on Santana's arm.

"We'll figure it out."

"I seriously doubt that."

"Hey!"

Voices from down the hall caught their attention. Brittany and Mike ran towards them, waving wildly. Jane was right, of course Totally Irrational! had won. They were unstoppable with Brittany on their side. Santana tried her best to smile.

"Do not say a word to Brittany about all of this. Either of you." She hissed out the side of her mouth.

"But, Santana-"

"Not a word, Jane. Just try to think happy thoughts."

Brittany bounded over, and barely taking a moment to see if they were clear, nearly jumped in Santana's arms.

"We did it! We won! I was going to call you, but I thought I would tell you myself-"

Brittany caught herself as she looked into her girlfriend's eyes. Santana was smiling, sure, but the smile was one that she hadn't seen in a long time. It felt plastic and stiff.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. " Santana said, wrapping her arms around Brittany. "I'm so proud of you, Britt."

The others came and congratulated Brittany on her win, Mike standing close to Mercedes, and putting an arm around her shoulders. The stood for a moment longer, the feeling of joy that Brittany had brought with her muted and muffled in the unnamed fear that seemed to sweep through the group.

Santana pulled herself away from Brittany and walked back towards the Cheerios' practice room, not bothering to try and draw out the conversation any further.

Brittany reached out a hand to her, but she was gone. She turned to Mercedes, fitfully.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

Mercedes grimaced. "You should ask her that, Britt. We'd better get back out there before Sue sees us again. I doubt that would go well. C'mon, Mike."

With that, she took Mike's hand, and led him down the hall, waving to Brittany and Jane as she went.

Brittany only watched her leave, and was about to question Jane when she was almost shoved aside by a firm shoulder to her back.

"Get to warming up, Pierce. I don't want a single misstep out there or your ass is grass."

Sue didn't bother slowing, but marched into the room, and Brittany had no choice but to follow. She only hoped that she would get to the bottom of all this soon.

\

Of course, they performed without a hitch. Quinn was oddly triumphant, but it seemed like they'd really gotten away with it. But for the rest of the day, Santana definitely wasn't her normal self. And every time Brittany tried to ask about what had happened, Santana only shut her down. It wasn't harsh or angry, it just seemed defeated. They drove back to Lima in almost complete silence, the only thing breaking the mood was the playlist that had lifted their spirits so much earlier. With Santana in such a bad mood, Brittany didn't bother trying to cheer her up. She wasn't sure what had happened, but she didn't feel right leaving things the way they were. She had to know what happened.. Santana dropped Jane off, and parked in front of Brittany's house for a few moments, resting her chin on her hand that was propped on the console in between them. After a few more minutes of sitting quietly, Brittany spoke up.

"You're doing it again."

"Huh?" Santana said, breaking out of her reverie.

"Your leg, San. Your leg won't stop bouncing. You're nervous."

Santana looked down at her wiggling appendage and stilled it immediately. "Um, no, it's fine."

"Why don't you just tell me what happened? You've got to trust me, Santana. What's the point of us being together if you don't trust me?"

There was a hint of desperation in Brittany's voice, and she didn't bother hiding it. She didn't want Santana thinking that she had to spend the rest of her life figuring out problems on her own. That's why they were together. So, they could work together.

Brittany moved over in her seat a little so she could reach Santana more easily. She put her arms around her the best she could, and nuzzled her gently with her nose.

"Whatever it is, it's best if we can tackle it together."

Santana took a deep breath. She wanted to tell Brittany, of course she did. But that wouldn't help her with Sue, and it would only make Brittany depressed. But then again, not telling wasn't really working out either. She sighed again, but kept silent.

Brittany tried another tactic. "Anyway, you know I'm just going to call Mercedes as soon as I get into the house, and she's going to tell me. So, either way, I'm going to know. But, I'd rather hear it from my girlfriend. Even bad news sounds good when it's coming from you."

Brittany gave Santana her sweetest smile, turning up her face so she was close enough to kiss, and she could almost feel Santana melt.

Santana leaned forward slightly and placed a gentle peck on Brittany's lips. "That's not fair, you know." She said, moving her head back against the headrest.

"What?" Brittany responded mischievously.

"You know I can't resist you when you look at me like that."

"Like what?" Still the innocent act.

"Like that."

Brittany smiled, pressing her lips against Santana's cheek. "Like this?"

Santana turned her head away and looked out the window. "Sue figured it out."

A gasp. "Figured what out?"

"Not everything, but enough. She- She knew you were missing, and she knew something was up. I couldn't hide it anymore."

Brittany sat back in her seat with a thud. "But she didn't say anything to me. Why didn't she-"

"I told her it was all my fault. I told her that I had tricked you to try and get you out of the way so I could become head cheerleader. I told her that I got rid of you."

There was a moment for Brittany to digest this new information. She reached into her bag and pulled out her phone, unlocking it and pressing buttons.

Santana turned and gazed at her with a puzzled look. "What are you doing?"

"I'm calling Sue. I'm setting her straight. I'm not going to let you take the fall for this, Santana."

Santana lunged across the seat, grabbing the phone, and stabbing at the "End Call" button before the call could connect.

"Santana!"

"I can't let you do this, Britt! I'm sorry, but I can't." Santana opened her car door, and rushed outside, still holding Brittany's phone to her chest.

Brittany had no choice but to follow, and rushed up the road after Santana.

"It's not right, Santana. You can't go through this by yourself. I won't let you, okay? I wouldn't have let you take the blame for something if it wasn't your fault even when we hated each other. It's not right."

She held out her hand for the phone, but Santana shook her head fitfully, sitting down on the curb in front of Brittany's house. "Britt, it's too late, okay? Even if you told Sue the truth, she probably wouldn't even believe you. She knows how much of a good person you are, even though she doesn't appreciate it. And she knows me. She knows this is exactly the kind of thing I would do."

"Santana, she's not just going to murder you. You'll probably get expelled. Your scholarships, Santana, all of your hard work! The honor roll. Everything you worked to get. We can't let Sue take that away from you. I will tell her it was me. The worst she can do is send me back to my old school. I'm not much a student anyway, Santana. I can do math wherever, but your parents will kill you if anything happens At school. They'll absolutely kill you." There was a desperation in Brittany's voice that made the hair on the back of Santana's neck stand on end. She grabbed Brittany's arms gently to get her attention, and pulled her down to where she was sitting, nearly into her lap.

"Nobody is getting expelled."

The conviction with which she spoke made Brittany pause.

"What? How can you know, San?"

Santana didn't know. But, she couldn't let Brittany panic. "Look, all I know is that next year we'll be seniors, and Sue's not going to get rid of one of her two star cheerleaders over something silly like this. A captain at that! No, she's going to do something horrible. Something vile. But she won't get Figgins to expel me."

Brittany sighed, leaning her head on Santana's shoulder. "Then what are we going to do?"

"We're going to wait it out. Even if I do get kicked off the Cheerios, even if I do get expelled, you only live about half an hour from me, Britt. I could still come by and see you every day."

Brittany gave a shuddering sigh as she fought back tears. It was ridiculous, of course, Santana was right. It wasn't as if they would never see each other again. They lived in the same town. But there was a lot at stake, and she couldn't imagine asking Santana to give up so much for her.

"Even two months ago if someone told me that you were getting expelled, I would have jumped for joy. I would have thought that my nightmare was over." Brittany sighed deeply. "I can't believe we wasted so much time hating each other. I don't regret very much in my life, Santana, but I regret that."

Santana gave Brittany a quick kiss, and then nodded, leaning her cheek on the top of Brittany's head. "Me too."

They sat there for a moment longer, and heard the door close behind them. Footsteps signaled one of the smaller Pierce's walking their way, but they didn't budge, content to just sight by each other until Belle Pierce made her way around where they were flopped down on the curb and squatted in front of them.

"What are you two doing?"

Brittany left her head on Santana's shoulder, and sniffed a few times, to clear her throat. "Nothing. Just being sad."

Belle inched a bit closer. "Why are you sad?"

Santana opened her arms, and Belle walked towards her. Brittany moved over a bit so Belle could fit into Santana's lap. "We've got a problem, and we're not sure how to deal with it."

"Daddy always says when you have a problem and you can't solve it, you should always go to somebody you trust for help."

Santana looked at Brittany, meeting her eye. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."

"How about…" Brittany started, standing up. "We go get some ice cream in the meantime. To help us think?"

Belle was out of Santana's lap in the flash, jumping from one foot to the other in excitement. "Can we really?"

Brittany laughed, taking her sister's hand. "Of course. Let's get out here before all the little kids are begging to come along."

They practically skipped to Santana's car, but she caught the glimpse of sadness on Brittany's face. Santana knew that Brittany's mind was working at a furious pace, trying to find a way out of this. But she just wasn't sure if there was another way. She sighed, getting her her feet, and putting on her best smile.

"I guess we're going on an ice cream run!"

Brittany winced. She thought she'd seen the last of Santana's fake smiles, but it seemed that she wasn't done just yet. She finished buckling her sister in the backseat, and slide into the passenger side.

"Do you think I can get back my phone, San?" She said, holding out her hand.

Santana hesitated for only a moment before handing the phone back to Brittany. "Britt, you've gotta promise me you won't do anything, okay? We'll only make this worse by shifting the blame around. We've just got to ride it out."

"I promise I won't call Sue, Santana. Okay?"

Santana smiled again. This one was a bit more genuine than the last one, and Brittany had to be glad for small favors.

"Okay, Britt. Thanks."

Of course, Brittany had said she wouldn't **call** Sue, but she hadn't said anything about going to see her.

She spent the rest of that Saturday with Belle and Santana who came back and spent game night with the Pierces, and then somehow got roped into Sunday Mass with the Lopezes. She didn't really care for church, but Maribel and Antony Lopez seemed ready to let bygones be bygones, and included her in as much stuff as they could. So, she showed up and tried to be a good sport, even though half the time she'd stop listening to the prayers and just get lost in Santana. The little things she did when she wasn't paying attention, or the way she'd look up at the stained glass windows, and the light coming down from them would reflect off her face and into her eyes. Every so often Santana would catch her staring and the smile that would take over her face would be free of worry for a few moments. Then, Santana would look away, and her brow would furrow, bringing her thoughts back to the trouble at hand.

That Sunday night they'd stayed together as long as possible, dreading the next day, when Sue (having had the rest of the weekend to figure out the best way to make Santana's life a living hell. Finally, after an hour or so in the hammock, Antony had come down and said that it was time for Brittany to go home, because it was a school night. Santana had driven her home, and didn't let go of her hand the whole time. Then, they stood on the front porch of Brittany's house, holding each other close until the rattling of the blinds told them that Whitney and Pierce were standing by, letting them know their time was up. They parted miserably, and Brittany waved goodbye, watching Santana pull away from the curb.

The next morning she texted Santana to tell her not to bothering picking her up, and without waiting for a reply, got her mom to drop her off at school about an hour early, and hopefully long before any other students would get there. She got to Sue's office, and was relieved to see the lights turned on. Bursting in, she rushed into Sue's office, but stopped short when she saw who was in the chair.

"Quinn? What are you doing here?"

The question came out as a demand, and a tone that Brittany had never felt the need to use with the other cheerleader. But Quinn knew something, or maybe she knew everything, and Brittany was sick of screwing around with her.

A small smile spread across Quinn's features. "Welcome back, Pierce. I figured that you'd be making an appearance, well, either you or that bitch of a girlfriend of yours, and I wasn't disappointed.

"Where is Sue?" Brittany asked suspiciously.

"Well, you know better than anybody that Sue normally gets in at this hour for her daily pom pom inspection. But, I told her I'd take over for her. Let her sleep in to celebrate our victory on Saturday."

"And why would you do that?"

"I have a proposition for you."

Brittany scoffed. "You lost, Quinn. Get over it. Whatever little plan you had in mind failed, and though there's bound to be some blowback from, you know, _all this_ , Either me or Santana will be sitting at the top of the pyramid, when this is all said and done. You can count on that. And trust me, Sue won't believe a thing you say against her two star Captains."

Honestly, with everything going the way that it seemed to be going, Brittany couldn't really find it in herself to gloat, but to her surprise Quinn didn't seem very defeated, sending a chilly smile Brittany's way.

"Do you know how long the Fabray's have been cheerleaders, Pierce?"

"Why would I know that?"

Quinn ignored her question. "Three generations! When great grandma Babs first came home in a custom made Danville High sweater, it has been the goal of every Fabray girl to climb to the top of the pyramid and prove herself worthy!"

Brittany's eyes went wide. "Are you telling you your family has been cheerleading for, like, 80 years? That actually is a super long time. My great grandmother wrestled goats. It's kind of a family tradition too, so I know what you're talking about-"

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Not the point, Pierce. The point is that I'm not going to be upstaged by the two of you. You, Brittany, who couldn't find her own ass with two hands, and Santana who, quite frankly, doesn't have the quiet dignity of a cheerleading captain."

"Why is everybody talking about my ass all of a sudden?" Brittany really hoped that Quinn would get to the point. Really she was hoping she could distract Quinn long enough for Sue to get in.

Quinn balked. "For three years! Three years, Brittany, I've had to listen to Judy Fabray make snide little comments about how it would have been nice to include my head cheerleader announcement in the family Christmas card, and how I'll never be able to find a boyfriend on the bottom of the pyramid, unless I'm into one of those 'new teenage boys who tweeze everything down there.' It just will. Not. Stop."

Quinn, stood up and was around the desk in a flash, and began slowly advancing on Brittany, keeping the finger pointed in her direction. Stabbing at the air with every syllable.

"And don't get me started on how disappointed she was that the squad went "all ethnic" But I sat through it, I took it because I knew that at some point the blonde walking Aspergers poster child and Ms. Chiquita Banana meets Azealia Banks would finally tear each other to pieces, and I would be the only one left standing. I'd be the only one that Sue could turn to."

Quinn took a few more steps forward, and though Brittany wasn't feeling particularly threatened, she thought it best not to antagonize Quinn any further. She looked down and saw a bag in Quinn's hand that she hadn't noticed before. She looked around frantically. She suddenly wished very much that she hadn't decided to come to school with no backup. She may not have been afraid of Quinn, but she wasn't stupid enough to underestimate Quinn. She might not be very active, but she was like a viper lying in wait. She would sit back and when it was all said and done, she wouldn't hesitate to destroy you.

"Look, Quinn-"

"And then low and behold! You two start getting along! I know all about your little project, and I know all about your canoodling. So pathetic, Brittany, sleeping with the enemy. How long was it before you rolled over and showed your belly to her? I get it, she's got a nice ass, but that's no excuse."

At the mention of Santana, Brittany stood a little taller. "Wait a second, Fabray, if you've got beef with me-"

"Don't you get it? I won't be free of you until I take matters into my own hands. I've tried time and time again to sabotage you, but you don't get the hint. So, I'm going to have to try a more direct approach."

Quinn held up the bag and shoved it at Brittany, who brought her arm up in front of her face. After a moment she brought her arm down.

"Here. Open it. You'll want to see what's inside."

Brittany met Quinn's gaze, and carefully reached for the bag, taking it from her. Quinn nodded, and Brittany unzipped the large duffel, and was confronted with a blinding view, the inside awash with white.

"What-" She reached into the bag at a small piece of paper that bore the word 'All purpose'.

Brittany brought one hand up to her mouth with gasp. "No. No, no no. Quinn, you didn't."

"After your little victory on Saturday, I made a trip out to Santana's car. It was beyond easy to jimmy the lock and get inside. I'm only surprised you two haven't made a bigger stink about it being missing. Good luck finding a replacement by the time health class rolls around."

Brittany could barely hear Quinn's words. Tears flowed down her cheeks, running rivulets through the flour that had transferred from her hand to her face.

Their baby.

It wasn't just the grade, and the fact that Roz would let Sue know that they'd failed the assignment. That baby represented just how far she and Santana had come. She represented every good moment that they'd had since they met. She had brought them together in ways that Brittany couldn't even appreciate. Quinn's destruction meant that Santana's sacrifice was for nothing. They'd still both be off the Cheerios. Everything was going to shit, and there didn't seem to be anything she could do about it.

"Well, have fun at the bottom of the pyramid, Pierce." Quinn said, smiling, as she made her way out of Sue's office.

Brittany grabbed her arm, leaving a streak of flour there, and hung on tightly. "This isn't over, Fabray."

Quinn laughed. "Yes it is."

\

Brittany wasn't sure how she found herself back in the Cheerios locker room with the bell for first period ringing in her ears. She still had the duffle bag in her hand with the remains of her and Santana's project. Sitting on a bench near her locker she could only alternate between gazing sadly into the remnants of the flour bag, and sniffling softly, trying to best to keep the flour off of her uniform. She desperately struggled, trying to come up with a plan. She couldn't just replace the bag, she knew that was a nonstarter. Coach Roz had written down all the barcodes in an attempt to keep them from destroying the bag, and trying to replace it with another one. She thought about going to talk to Roz, but with the JBL catastrophe from earlier in the month, she didn't dare. There was no way Roz would give them another chance. That was it, they were both sunk. Santana's sacrifice had been for nothing. She didn't have much of a choice. She'd have to go to Roz and Sue and convince them to take the burden off of Santana. There was no way Brittany could let her take the fall for the whole thing. Especially when it wasn't her fault. Especially, when Brittany knew how important academics was to the Lopezes. Her parents wouldn't kill her if Santana made an F in health. It wouldn't be the first class that Brittany had failed, but Santana's parents… They demanded more from her. And Santana demanded more of herself. She would never be satisfied with that blemish on her record.

Brittany let her fingers sift through the flour, and pulled out some shredded remains of the bag, holding it close to her chest.

"I'm sorry I couldn't protect you." She whispered, trying to keep the tears from her eyes.

Around the corner the door burst open. "Brittany?"

Santana raced towards Brittany's locker, but when she saw the condition her girlfriend was in, she stopped in her tracks. She had been on her way to first period when she saw that snake, Quinn Fabray, laughing wildly with some of her friends, a patch of flour on her arm told Santana all she needed to know, and she raced to the most obvious place to find Brittany: the locker room.

Santana took a small step closer. "Say it isn't so, Britt. Tell me she didn't do it."

Brittany couldn't meet Santana's eye, and her face crumpled into a frown. "I'm so sorry, Santana."

Santana rushed to the bench, and looked into the bag. Looking away, she reached for Brittany, holding her close. "This is all my fault! I was so worried about Sue over the weekend, I totally forgot about the baby. I'm the worst parent in the world. What kind of parent forgets about their kid?"

"It was my fault too, Santana. I got caught up and forgot about her too. And we were so close, only one more day."

"It's not even the assignment anymore, Britt, you know? She was like, I dunno. She was like our little baby."

"Yeah."

The took a few more moments to look into the bag, and Santana released herself from Brittany, and zipped it up.

"What do we do now?" She asked quietly. She knew the roadblocks they'd be facing as well as Brittany did. There wasn't a simple way to replace the bag, and she knew it. It looked like they were out of options.

"I can't let you take the fall for this, Santana. I just can't."

"Brittany-"

"No, Santana. Your parents want you to maintain your GPA, and I know how important it is to you. I'm going to talk to Sue and Roz, and I'm going to take the fall for this one. I can't let you do it."

Santana took Brittany's hand. "Britt, I can't ask you to do that! If you're expelled because Sue is feeling particularly vindictive, the Mathletes will be without their captain, and I know how important that is to you."

"The Mathletes are going to be fine. They are actually really good, Santana! And they want me around, but I don't have to be. I mean, it's not like my old school had a team, but still."

Brittany's voice faded to a near whisper, and Santana pulled on her hand gently, bringing her closer.

"I guess we both want to protect each other"

Brittany gave a sad, half smile. "It really is the mark of a good relationship."

"Fine. We'll go see Sue and Roz, together. We'll explain everything, and maybe, _just maybe_ , they won't band together and roast up like stuck pigs."

Brittany laughed again, a bit more genuine now. "I guess it's worth a shot."

Santana pulled Brittany in for a hug, and without a word, took her hand, leading her out the door. The hallways were empty, but they made their way straight to Sue's office first. They knew that she would more than likely be the most difficult to deal with and it was probably best to go ahead and get her out of the way. They approached the door with a quiet caution and were surprised to see it wide open, Sue sitting at her desk.

"Ah, the scissor sisters, come in. After hearing about your little confrontation with Fabray, we've been waiting for you." Sue said, taking her feet down from the desk.

Santana almost replied, but a quick squeeze of Brittany's hand dissuaded her. Much to their surprise, sitting across from Sue, was Coach Roz.

"Roz? What are you doing here?" Santana said suspiciously.

"Sit down, tits for brains. You too, Elmira Fudd. The adults are talking now."

Dumbfounded, and vaguely terrified, Brittany and Santana sat down across from Sue as Roz sighed and got to her feet.

"Ladies, do you know why I assigned this project?"

There wasn't a sound before Sue spoke up. "Not a rhetorical question, ladies."

"To teach us responsibility?" Brittany said hopefully.

"To keep us busy until midterms?" Santana quipped.

"Since you two first started going to school here together, it's been a living hell for most of the teachers, and all the of the students. Most of our time was spent trying to keep you all from turning each other whatever colors of the rainbow, and locking each other in panic rooms. We've had to get the locks to the maintenance rooms changed twice, and the locks to the roof changed eight times!"

"Hey, my parents footed the bill for at least three of those-"

"I am not finished talking, Santana Lopez!" Roz shouted.

Santana looked down meekly at her lap.

"You two were a menace! We haven't had a peaceful moment since you two started this petty rivalry, and I'm pretty sure that Principal Figgins started losing his hair because of it!"

Brittany fidgeted nervously in her chair.

"The band geeks are fighting with the soccer team. The lacrosse squad is beefing with the AV Club. And I have no idea what's going on between the Spanish club and the after school cooking class, but from what I saw on the school security cameras last semester, it was not pretty. You've torn this school in two."

"Not to mention what those stupid glee kids are getting into. Don't think I hadn't noticed your little dalliance with the dark side and one Will Schuester, Brittany Pierce." Sue broke in.

Brittany had no idea where this was going, but she didn't dare interrupt. Anyway, Roz was right. They had done a lot more harm than good at the school with their fighting, and they hadn't really done anything to help.

"The point is since you started this project, do you know how many fights we've had having to do with Lopez supporters ganging up on Pierce People? Do you know how many times we've had to break up an impromptu protest arguing for the free and legal use of violence against supporters of one side or the other? Do you know how many times we've had to pay professional cleaners to get vinyl out of a lunch table, or deer urine from out of a row of lockers?"

Santana, not sure if she was supposed to answer or not, decided to err on the side of being proactive. "Um, none?"

"That's right! None. Not once. No fire trucks ungluing people from the ceiling or janitors grumbling about having to find a way to dispose of 127 three tiered birthday cakes. No having to untangle literally _hundreds_ of kites from light fixtures or trying to lure prairie dogs out of the cafeteria. It's been pure bliss."

"Not to mention that my Cheerios have been looking better than ever this season."

"The point of this assignment wasn't to waste time or teach you anything as silly as responsibility. The point was just to get you to sit quietly somewhere and stop causing a ruckus. And, by god, it worked."

Santana raised an eyebrow. "So, what does that mean? Quinn destroyed our flour baby, Coach Roz."

"I could give two flying flips about that thing. Here's what I know: You two can get along. You did get along. Now, get along for the rest of the semester, and I don't care if you fired your flour baby out of a t-shirt cannon, you will get an A in my class."

They couldn't believe what they were hearing. Brittany smiled widely. "Are you serious, Coach Roz? We can totally do that."

"Fine with me." Santana seconded.

They made to jump up from their chairs, but a voice stopped them.

"Not so fast doublemint twins."

Santana rolled her eyes. "That one doesn't even make sense, Sue. I'm Afro-Latina and Brittany is white. We look nothing alike."

"Santana, I think it's best you don't antagonize her." Brittany said out the side of her mouth, grabbing Santana's hand and squeezing tightly.

"Listen to your girlfriend, Lopez."

Santana swallowed loudly. "Yes, Coach. Sorry, Coach."

Sue glared. "There is the matter of you two trying to pull a fast one on me at regionals. You lied, you manipulated an underclassman, and most importantly you wasted my time, not to mention my good throwing eggs. You threw up on Becky, though that was mostly hilarious. And one of the bottles of my patent pending Sue's Miraculous Body Cleanse is missing. A $24.99 dollar value."

"Coach, we're really sorry about-"

Sue held up her hand for silence. "I don't want to hear your excuses, Pierce."

Brittany clapped her mouth closed.

"Here's what I'll tell you: Nobody messes with Sue Sylvester. Nobody."

The two girls nodded, defeatedly.

"So, here's what I'm going to do. First off, you're both on shower duty for the rest of the week. I want to be able to see my reflections in those shower heads every morning."

"Yes, Coach."

"Next you're going to alternate as my umbrella holder for the rest of the month."

"Yes, Coach."

"Finally, Brittany, you're out as co-captain of the Cheerios."

This caught them by surprise, and Santana moved to take a step forward. "Now, wait a minute, Sue-"

"And Quinn Fabray is taking over her spot. Brittany will take over as our new dance coordinator, and help with choreography. You'll be Captains with Quinn, Santana."

"After all she did to us? It was her fault-"

"It was your fault for lying. You better be glad I didn't can the both of you. You've managed to do better with her helping out than we've done all year, and that's why I'm even bothering to keep you around. Now, do you really want to make a stink about it?"

Brittany had a tug a bit more firmly on Santana's arm, but she finally took a step back.

"No, Coach." They said in unison.

"Now, get out of my office before I have Becky come in here and throw you out. I think she's still gunning for you, Santana. Would you like to deal with that?"

Santana shook her head, and turned, following Brittany out the office. They made it down the hallway before Brittany stopped, wrapping her arms around Santana, and kissing her on the cheek.

"We did it!"

Santana kissed her back, but didn't return the enthusiasm. "Britt, you still lost your spot."

"San, I never wanted to be a Cheerios' captain. You did. Quinn does. And I'll finally get to focus on the dancing, like I've always wanted. Plus that means I'll have more time with the Mathletes. Sue totally did us a favor!"

Santana looked up at Brittany carefully. "Are you sure? Cause Britt, this is a big deal."

"I'm sure." She said firmly. This is what I wanted since the beginning! I can't wait to tell Ms. Griffin. She's going to freak!"

Brittany bounced a few more times until Santana caught her enthusiasm, and returned her smile.

"I guess this is probably the best result we could have asked for."

"Yes!" Brittany settled down, and wrapped her arms around Santana's shoulders. "And best of all, at the end of all this, I got you."

She planted to soft kiss on Santana's lips.

Santana smiled, returning the kiss. "And I've got you."

\

The lunch room was in disarray. There were kids yelling, silverware clattering and people shoving as they tried to make their way through the busy cafeteria. Brittany sat at the table, eating french fries, trying to ignore a story Tina was telling about how she knew this music box she bought at a yard sale was haunted because of the way it would sometimes start playing when she hadn't wound it up.

"It just doesn't make sense, Tina." Artie countered. "I've seen a lot of ghostly phenomenon, and I wouldn't be surprised if you were just dealing with some energy spikes."

"I'm telling you guys, I know a guy. He wants to come over for a seance, and I just need like ten people for it to be a success!"

Mercedes sat next to her, as bored with the conversation as she was, every so often stealing a fry from Brittany's plate as she scrolled through her phone. Neither of them were feeling too much into communication, so they simply sat, side by side, each in their own little world. It was because of this distraction that they didn't notice the voice around them stop until it seemed that almost every single person in the cafeteria was looking at them, silent, mouths open in confusion.

A throat cleared behind them. "Um, mind if we sit here?"

Brittany and Mercedes turned to find Mike and Santana standing there, hands shoved into their pockets, looking bashful. Brittany could barely control her happiness. She moved away from Mercedes, grabbing Santana by the arm, and pulling her close on the bench, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. Mercedes did the same with Mike, and even stole Brittany's plate of fries, feeding him a couple for good measure. The cafeteria seemed to relax as they sat down, and within a few moments, things really seemed to be getting back to normal.

After a moment Kurt spoke up. "Britt? Hon? What's going on here? Am I hallucinating or did you just invite Santana Lopez to sit at our table?"

Brittany smiled. "Yep, Kurt, Artie, Tina, this is Santana Lopez. My girlfriend."

"Oh, yeah, and Mike and I are going out as well." Mercedes added.

"Are you kidding me?" Artie hissed, as if he were keeping some kind secret. "You _hate_ Santana!"

Santana glared at him, but Brittany only laughed. "Not anymore, I guess." She kissed Santana on the cheek in an effort to get her to loosen up. It didn't work.

Santana cleared her throat again. "Look. I probably did some really messed up stuff to you all-"

"Probably?" Kurt huffed.

Santana sighed. "Definitely, okay? I know I definitely did, but I want to make it right. And, I guess, I want to apologize. I've learned that Brittany is a pretty amazing person, and if she's friends with you all, you must be pretty awesome too. So, I want to start over. I really want to try this time, and do this right? Can we give it a try?"

The small group looked unsure, but Brittany waggled her eyebrows at them, and they broke into smiles.

"We'll try. For Brittany's sake, I guess." Tina said. "But no more jokes about dim sum, or fortune cookies."

"Fine, Chang, I'll only joke about kim chee and plastic surgery, okay?"

Tina thought for a moment. "Only if I get to joke about tacos and sombreros."

Santana smiled and shook her head. "Deal."

Meanwhile, Kurt had moved closer to Brittany. "You have got to tell me how this all happened, Britt. What have I been missing?"

"I'll fill you in on our next girls night, Kurt." Brittany laughed, leaning her head on Santana's shoulder.

"You're doing great." She whispered into Santana's ear.

"Yeah, right, I'll have to remember this moment when you're apologizing to all of my friends. Well, all of them except for Berry. Every prank you ever did to her was well deserved."

Brittany laughed, and then got quiet. As their friends picked back up the thread of their conversation, she relaxed. This might work after all. After years of the fighting, the backstabbing, the awful pranks, they might all actually be able to get along for good. Yet something else was niggling at the edges of her mind.

Santana nudged Brittany with her nose. "What's wrong, babe?"

Brittany sighed. "I was thinking about our baby. She was so precious. I miss her."

"It's ok, Britt. She lived a good life. We took her to tons of places, and I know she enjoyed it."

"Yeah, you're probably right."

They lingered for a moment longer.

"Did you ever come up with a name for her?" Santana asked.

"Yeah, I was thinking Sugar."

"Sugar? For a flour baby?"

"Yep. Sugar Beyonce Adele Lopez Pierce."

Santana laughed. "Holy cow. That's perfect."

"Yep."

Santana reached for a soda can sitting on the table.

"Let's raise a glass to Baby Sugar Lopez Pierce. Gone, but forever in our hearts."

Mercedes and Mike enthusiastically cheered, while the others took a more half hearted view of the celebrations, but still raised their drinks in the air.

"Thanks for raising Baby Sugar with me, Brittany. You'll be a great real mom someday."

Santana felt her face getting hot. She certainly didn't mean to imply anything. But now her head was full of visions of Brittany holding a little bundle. One with jet black hair, and coffee cream skin. She buried her face in Brittany's hair, and could feel the laugh coming from beneath her.

"You'll be an awesome mom too, Santana."

Brittany squeezed Santana's hand, and rested her head on her shoulder as they turned their attention back to the table.

\

EPILOGUE

 _1 year later_

The doorbell rang and Santana raced down the stairs, skidding across the hallway in her socks and nearly colliding with Antony Lopez as he stood, rifling through the mail.

" _Suave, Santanita_. You know how I feel about you running in the house."

" _Lo siento, Papi_. The door is for me."

Antony reached for his daughter's arm as she rushed by. "Your mother said you got some mail, Santana. Is it what I think it is?" He could barely contain his excitement.

Santana smiled, and nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I think so. But we all wanted to do it together, and Brittany's waiting so... "

Her father brought her in for a hug, and mirrored her smile. "No matter what, Santana, your mother and I are proud of you. Of all the work you did over the last year, and everything else. _Te amo,_ Santana."

"I love you too, Papi." She returned her father's hug, and then wiggled out his arms. "Now, I've gotta go answer the door, or there will be hell to pay."

Her father gave her one last squeeze, and let her go, and like a slingshot Santana was standing at the front door. Taking a deep breath, she turned the knob.

"Santana."

"Quinn."

They stared at each other for a moment, their lips set in firm lines, their brows furrowed. Suddenly a voice shrilled behind Santana.

"Quinnie!"

Santana was nearly bowled over as a small (but getting bigger!) dark haired blur whizzed past, colliding with Quinn as it landed in her arms.

Quinn's face seemed to light up as she hugged Santana's little sister. "Selena! Did you miss me?"

"I did! Santana said we might not see you until after spring break, and I was super sad 'cause we're going out of town, and I didn't know-"

Santana gingerly tugged Selena out of Quinn's embrace, and placed her on the ground with a thump. "That's enough, kid. We've got some really important stuff to handle."

"Then Quinn can play with me?"

"That's really up to her, _Lenita_."

Selena looked up to Quinn with big eyes. "Please, Quinnie? Just for a little while?" She whined.

Quinn smiled and nodded. "Sure. We'll practice your handstands while Brittana make out on the hammock again when they think we're not looking."

Selena scrunched her face. "Ew! I really like Brittany, but I hate it when you two make out."

"Then you'll have to make sure to nail all of your handstands then, so we won't have to see them."

Selena giggled and scurried away, and Santana put her arm through Quinn's.

"We'd better hurry before my Mom tries to corner us next."

"I thought we were doing this at your house so we wouldn't get as many interruptions." Quinn laughed, letting Santana lead their way upstairs.

"Well, how could I know my family would suddenly decide that this was the day they wanted to spend every minute stalking me?"

They reached the door, and as Santana led them in, Quinn was ambushed again. This time the shape was decidedly blonder, and taller, but it still wasted no time nearly bowling Quinn over in excitement.

"Quinn! We've been waiting for you. We were too nervous to even make out."

Quinn cocked an eyebrow as she endured Brittany's embrace. "Really?"

"Well, not entirely. But, we didn't get far, so you should feel confident touching anything in this room." Santana said with a wry smirk as she closed the door.

"Very funny, Santana. As if I would have felt confident touching anything in this room, ever."

The three girls made themselves comfortable, and a strained silence took over the room. Santana's leg bounced against the mattress, and Brittany reached across, rubbing soothing strokes down her arm. They exchanged a smile, and looked over to Quinn, who was now gnawing viciously on her thumbnail.

Santana took a deep breath. "D-do you guys think it means anything? That I only got mine today?"

Brittany shook her head quickly. "No way! It's probably just, you know, the way they send them out."

"But, Britt, your last name begins with P, Quinn is F, I should have gotten mine second."

"That would be true, but it's not based on last names."

"It's not?"

"No, actually, it's a pretty complex algorithm involving zip codes. I was doing a project on this last year-"

Santana collapsed, burying her face in a pillow. "And that's why you got in, and I'll spend the next four years driving Selena to karate practice, and selling hot dogs for a living."

"Babe, selling hot dogs is a noble service that the community needs. You love those hot dogs we get at the park."

Quinn cleared her throat. Brittany and Santana were surprised to see she was standing next to the bed, and with a wave of her hand, pushed Brittany aside. Sitting down in between them, she pulled an envelope out of her pocket.

"Or, we could just open our letters and find out if we got in or not."

Brittany nodded, and went over to Santana's desk, grabbing two envelopes, and bringing them back over. They were a crisp white with the logo for the Ohio State University logo emblazoned in bright red letters on the front. There had been a lot of schools, but they had applied together. They figured they didn't want to lose the friendships they had found so late, so quickly. But all of them getting a full ride to the same school seemed like a long shot. Brittany handed Santana her envelope, and held her own close to her chest. She sat down, and took a deep breath.

"On three, okay?"

The other girls nodded quickly.

"One…"

Brittany noticed Santana's hand shaking, and grabbed it over Quinn's lap, giving a quick squeeze.

"Two…"

Quinn placed her free hand on top of Brittany and Santana's, hoping she could add some good luck of her own.

"Three!"

There was a quick movement, and the tearing of papers, and then silence.

Brittany was the first to react. "Yes! I got in! I'm already accepted into the mathematics program! I'm going to be able to start research almost as soon as I get on campus! I guess that letter Ms. Griffin wrote did a lot of good."

"I got in, too! And a scholarship for cheerleading! Now I don't have to worry about my parents freaking when I tell them I want to study drama instead of education like they wanted me to. I can finally do what I want!" Quinn pumped her fist in the air and did a little dance.

Finally, Quinn and Brittany looked at Santana.

Brittany reached out a hand slowly. "Santana? What does yours say, babe?"

She quickly pulled her hand back when she saw unshed tears in her girlfriend's eyes. "San?"

Suddenly Santana's face broke into a smile. "I got in! I got in, Brittany! Pre law! And the scholarship, too! I made it!"

She barely had time to react before Brittany had tackled her on the bed, and was covering her face in kisses. Quinn dived on the both of them, wrapping them in tight embraces. After their celebrations, the laid on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"We did it. We're going to college together, can you believe it?" Santana breathed.

"Of course I can. We all worked hard this year. We all were there for each other. We paid our dues. We earned this." Quinn said with some conviction.

"I couldn't have done it without you two." Brittany said, sitting up and smiling down on them.

"And you won't have to." Santana leaned up and kissed Brittany on the nose.

Brittany hopped off the bed, and pulled Santana to her feet. "I've gotta call my parents. And Mercedes. She's going to flip."

"Did she get into that performing arts school that she wanted?" Quinn asked, getting up from the bed herself.

"Yep! She got into the singing program, and Mike's doing dance! They're both so excited. We're proud of them." Santana said.

"Well, I'm going to call my parents. They'll probably want to take me out to dinner or something when they think I've gotten into a prestigious teaching program." Quinn smiled grimly.

"Quinn, they'll appreciate you or not, but you're not alone in this. Not anymore, okay?" Santana took Quinn's hand and looked her carefully in the eye. "You've got a place here, and at Brittany's house. And it's not the same as having your parents, but we'll do the best we can. We love you."

Brittany nodded, while trying not to get too choked up, and when that failed, simply hugged Quinn as tightly as she could.

"Thanks, guys."

"I'm going to go tell me parents, and Selena. They're going to flip."

"I can't wait to see their faces." Brittany said, finally finding her voice.

Quinn led the way and Brittany grabbed Santana's arm, kissing her as they made their way down the stairs.


End file.
